Mon espoir, mon amour
by thewhitespirit
Summary: There was nothing left to live for. Yet, tiny sparks of hope gleam in this big existence, like pearls in the murk. He could grow wings and fly away from this dim location, though he knew it wouldn't be possible. Flashes of horrifying images exploded all around him. First a monster, laughing. A beautiful ocean. She's trying to grab someone's hand, and an electrifying golden light…
1. Unexpected Squatter

Hope Estheim lugged his suitcase through the dark hallway, searching for his room.

Room 810.

Nope. What would his roommate be like? Would it be a strong guy who defended him from bullying, or a dumb nerd that he had to defend himself. What if it was a girl.

811.

No. It wouldn't be a girl. They wouldn't stick him in a room with a female gender that would try to talk to him. Or worse. _Date him._

812.

Would he be liked? Would he be made fun of? Would his past or his hair color or his secret of being a l'Cie affect the way people thought of him?

813.

His suitcase suddenly felt a lot heavier than it did before. A lurching feeling began to crawl into his stomach.

814.

What if he wasn't smart enough to go here? What if he was too smart? What if he gets no friends and has to be forever alone his entire life?

815.

This was the room. Hope blinked away the worried tears and grabbed his key inside his pocket. He slowly felt it sink to the key whole, and turned it. He heard the click, and pushed the door open. All the lights were off. The lonely 14 year old stepped into the little living room with a couch and an old blocky television. On the coffee table was a knife. Gasping slightly and looking away, he walked into the kitchenette and saw no food or dishes in the sink. Sighing, he stepped down the little hallway and quietly yelped, "Hello?" No answer.

Hope was alone. In a way this was a good thing, since he didn't have to deal with girls or guys or anyone teasing him, but he would be so lonely as well. Hope opened a door to one of the two bedrooms at random and threw his suitcase on the floor. He climbed into the bed and cried himself to sleep. Why did he even decide to sign up for this school?

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?" Hope felt something smack him in the head. The poor teenager felt falling and then he thumped on the floor. Looking up in horror, he realized he had a roommate. And this roommate…

Was a female.

Why is there a kid in my room? Lightning screamed down the hallway. Hope started at the floor realizing what just happened. She picked up her cell phone and jammed a number into the thing. She waited impatiently for someone to pick up.

"Hello? Yeah, Mr. Johnson, I have a problem. Yeah. There's a freakin' 5 year old squatter in my room, can you get rid of it? Yeah, I was out last night with my sister and I come back this morning to get ready for school and there's someone in my bed, and – I'M NOT RAMBLING, _SIR._JUST BE A GOOD PRINCIPAL AND GET. HIM. OUT."

Hope heard all the talking and screaming from the girl's floor. His eyes began to water as he picked up his unmoved suitcase. And sat on the top of it, waiting for the mortifying girl to come back and stab him with the knife he saw earlier. He then heard a light knock on the door. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he waited for someone to say something.

"Finally, you're here – Oh, Serah, what are you doing here?" Hope heard gentle footsteps come into the house.

"Oh, nothing. I just heard screaming and I was wondering if you were all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just trying to deal with a squatter in my house right now."

"What? There's someone in your house? Where? We should call the police! Or just attack him ourselves!"

"Serah, that would be child abuse, I'm not gonna go and-"

"What? Lightning, a kid is not a squatter." Hope jerked his head up slightly. Lightning? What kind of name is that?

"Go see for yourself." Hope's eyes welled up in tears again. His life is over. How come the counselor gave him the wrong room? Or maybe he sent him here to die on purpose. He wiped the tears from his eyes, but then they just continued to come. He wanted to go home, but there was no home for him except here or an orphanage now. He heard the gentle footsteps then angry footsteps follow.

When they finally came close enough to the door, Hope sniffled and looked up. Serah's mouth almost fell open. How could she call a little boy so innocent a squatter? And, what was he doing here. Hope stared worringly into the girl's eyes. She looked a lot like Lightning, but much more innocent and only a couple of years younger, but they both looked like college kids, which Hope expected, but he didn't imagine they were going to be this tall.

Serah slowly walked over to the silently crying kid, his eyes staring fearfully into hers. She kneeled down at Hope's side, and took in a breath. Lightning leaned against the door, waiting for her to say something.

"Hi there," Serah said, almost whispering. Hope could tell she was a lot sweeter than the woman at the door who attacked her. "what are you doing here?" Hope took a couple seconds to process his words then spoke. "I – I'm gonna go to school here and this is my room." Lightning looked incredibly confused and Serah looked almost sad.

"What do you mean? You know this is a college, right honey?" Hope smiled microscopically and nodded.

"I… took the test and got in. This was the only place I could go besides… this was the only place I could go." Serah nodded and her eyes moved to Hope's pocket. Hope stared at it for a second and pulled out his room and key, shakily handing it to Serah.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Serah asked, staring at the room key.

"I'll leave. I'm sorry I stayed in your room. This is the hey that a man gave me, He said this was the right room, but, apparently not. I can sleep in the hallway, or I don't even have to go here, I guess. I-I'm so sorry." Starting to sit up, Hope felt Serah grab his arm.

"Lightning didn't know that she was having a roommate. That's why she… attacked you this morning. If you're really supposed to go here, then stay. If my sister doesn't want you here, you can stay with me. But, can I ask you a question? How did you get into this school?"

"I… passes the test, and I don't have a home otherwise, so I figured here would be the best place to go." Serah tried her best not to cry at the pained looked in his eyes and looked over at Lightning.

"Light, I'll take him. You can have the room to yourself. C'mon, kid!" Serah said joyfully, happy to accept the little boy into the school. Lightning nodded, but almost with hesitation. Serah opened the door and they walked silently to the door two rooms away from Lightning's. Light suddenly heard a knock on the door and opened it.

"Oh. Mr. Johnson. You're too late. He's already gone." And she slammed the door in his face, leaving the teacher awestruck of how she treated him. Lightning slumped down on the couch and thought carefully for a minute. She felt like she had just given something up. She had never felt so alone.

_I hope you enjoyed the story! This is basically my first story since my first one called His Sacrifice was just another story idea edited lightly from another fanfiction (with permission of course!) by me. And my second story was like, 100 words long. But I do really like my story at the moment, so I'll see how this turns out! Even if it gets no reviews. SO yeah, thank you for reading my first real fanfiction! _


	2. First Day if School

_Hi! So I'd really like to thank everyone who took the time to read my first fanfiction! I'm surprised I got more than 1 review! I would like to update as soon as possible as much as I can because I'm on spring break, so I really don't have an excuse to be slacking on the story. And I can listen to the song the Gates of Etro from the FFXIII-2 soundtrack and feel so inspired! And I don't have writer's block like I usually do 75% of the time lol, so, enjoy the next chapter, and I'll continue to write! _

Hope quietly followed Serah as she unlocked the door and stepped into the room. It looked a little bit brighter since the windows were open. Serah looked over at Hope, realizing she didn't know what room to put him in since her boyfriend was staying in the room beside hers.

"Would it be ok if you slept on the couch? Just for tonight? Then we could think of other plans, or, maybe Light'll grow on you? You never know!" She laughed quietly and watched Hope nod.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't realize, I haven't gotten your name! I'm Serah, if you didn't know already," she said, holding out her hand. Hope reluctantly put his hand out and shook it slightly.

"I'm Hope. It's really nice to meet – I mean, thanks for… letting me stay with you." Serah nodded sympathetically and stepped into the kitchen to make breakfast. She figured she should get some training when she married her man. Hope. Figures. That would be the reason, names are always ironic when they're adjectives. She usually doesn't wish someone's name was despair, but, in this case…

"How old are you Hope? 16, 17?" She didn't expect him to be younger, even if he was short and looked younger, she wouldn't believe that he would be going to a prestigious school with a lot of 20 to 25 year olds.

"I'm 14. Why do you ask?" Serah felt bad as she realized Hope still sounded nervous. She would have to do something to make him more comfortable. She stepped back into the little living room and looked over at him, sitting on the big couch fit for her boyfriend, not some little boy. She realized how young that was to be at such a big school, but she figured that he must be a smart kid. But he looked almost as if he was going to blow up any second, and it made Serah feel like crap. She tried to loosen up the conversation, but failed miserably.

"So… Hope, where are your parents? Did they decide to bring you here-" She stopped immediately when she saw the look on his face as if he was slapped. His eyes welled up with tears and instantly began to fall down in little droplets down his face. Serah didn't mean to, but she began to cry a little as well. She ran up and wrapped her arms around him.

"I-didn't mean- Hope, I'm so sorry, I didn't know-" Hope looked up at her and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"It's ok, Serah. You didn't know. I figure I can tell you the story now, so you won't have to know. My, my parents died. First my-my mom, a-and she… she… my dad died in car crash on his way home from work. So, I figured instead of staying in an orphanage or foster home I could come here." Hope wiped his final tear and Serah continued to hold onto him.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened with Light, Hope. She's-she's been through a lot, and I think that she'll like you soon. She's just not used to, people, I guess. But she's not too shabby once you get to know her." Hope looked at Serah sweetly then saw her eyes widen and gasp. She got up like a rocket and sprinted back into the kitchen.

"Oh thank God! I forgot to turn on the stove in the first place!" Serah began to laugh hysterically, and Hope couldn't help but stifle a chuckle from his mouth.

After eating breakfast, Hope finished getting ready and Serah thankfully wrote down on an index card where each of his classrooms were. Hope started his classes a little later since Serah had more than him.

"Hope, I'm leaving now. We're allowed to come back and eat lunch in the dorm rooms as long as we come back on time for our next class. So I'll meet you back here around 12:40, but here's a room key in case I don't get back in time," Serah realized Hope could take care of himself, so she took one last look at him and then left the room.

Hope stared at the floor for a minute before continuing on to the kitchen, and observing the house a little bit. He found a room that he hadn't been yet across from Serah's, but it was just a plain room with a bed and a ton of papers and clothes on the floor. He turned on the TV for a little bit and finally picked up his backpack and headed for school.

Hope took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to the classroom, with loads of other kids 10 years older than him moving their head to see who it was. It felt like forever to walk the 8 feet to the teachers desk. All the girls in the class were immediately adoring how cute and little he was, and the boys were wondering what the little kid was doing in the class. The teacher looked at him politely, then she took the note from his shaky hand. After reading it for a minute, the class staring silently the teacher smiled back at him then whispered for him to take a seat in the back. Hope slowly walked toward the back of the classroom, hearing whispers of 'cute', and 'student?', and 'little!'. He tried to ignore them, and he quietly took a seat and unintentionally stared innocently at his desk.

After the long hour class, he began to stand up suddenly felt something tap his back.

"Hi! What are you doing here? You look so young! Or are you SUPER brained? Oh, I'm Vanille! It's nice to meet you! What's your name?" Hope stared a bit frightened at the very straightforward girl and finally grinned shyly.

"I-I'm Hope. It's nice to meet you," Vanille stared back in complete adoration of him, then ran away to tell her friends about it. Hope sighed and picked up his stuff to go to his next class.

And time continued onward. Hope still had to deal with all the whispering and talking about him in every class, girls waving at him from the other end of the classroom as if he was a 2nd grader. Hope would smile back and girls wanted to adopt the little boy with his green orbs and innocent smile.

He finally looked up at the clock and saw it was 12:30. Perfect. Hope slid out of his last classroom avoiding any curious people and made his way back to the dorm room. Just as he was about to use his key, he heard Serah call his name.

"Awesome, you made it! My boyfriend'll be here soon to meet you, so we can just chill for a little bit, I guess." Hope thumped down on the couch, exhausted. He didn't get much sleep the night before, and his whole day so far was stressful, let alone horrifying. Let alone he wasn't even feeling well last night when he first came, and being smacked in the head, and skipping breakfast… he realized life was a bit sucky at the moment. Hope snapped out of his mini trance and heard a door unlocking. A man Hope didn't expect to look like he did stepped into the dorm room. He threw the backpack that was almost too small for him on the floor and sat at the table, then getting up a few seconds later, heading to the refrigerator.

"Snow, I want to talk to you about something. I-"

"Oh my god, are you pregnant?"

"NO, Snow, jeez! I just want to tell you about our new roommate,Hope." Hope suddenly heard they're voice lower and Serah speaking solemnly about something. He already figured what it was about.

"Oh, where is she?" This 'Snow' asked, Hope resisting a grin.

"Snow, Hope is a boy."

"What do you mean he's a boy! I don't want a MAN staying with us! What if you too are alone, at night, and you're drunk, and then-"

"Snow. Calm down, he's a little kid."

"Oh… he walked into the living room and saw little Hope sitting on the couch, and formed a lopsided toothy grin.

"Hey kiddo. You must be a little brainiac, huh? I'm Snow. Snow Villers. Hope shook his giant hand and Snow chuckled at their size comparison. He walked back into his room and Serah smiled to herself. Looking over at Hope, she walked over and felt his forehead.

"You feel clammy. You alright?" Serah stared in concern. Hope nodded nonchalantly, and grabbed his things, realizing he didn't eat, but he wanted to get to class early so he didn't make a scene. He ran out without saying another word and went on his way to his next class, missing his old family.

In the middle of his Calculus class, Hope glanced up and suddenly saw Lightning staring at him. Her eyes darted away instantly and she stared at her book, trying to pretend that Hope didn't notice, but he could see the stress in her eyes. When he went back to look at his book, he saw that his vision was clouded. He shot his hands up to his eyes and felt no tears. Then why were his eyes so foggy?

"Hope. Hope, honey, look at me. Hope." Hope heard something in his ears but was too tired to open his eyes he ignored it.

_Lightning was the only one who noticed since she was staring at him. She saw him stare at his book for a couple of seconds, his mind focused, but his eyes weren't moving across the page. She noticed his eyes starting to blink disorientingly… and then close. And then she saw him starting to tip over and fall off his chair. _

"_HOPE!" Lightning screamed, feeling extreme worry for some reason, for some little kid she barely knew. The teacher looked up and gasped, running over to Hope, unconscious and innocent looking on the ground. Half the kids stood up and craned their necks to try to see around all the other kids, mostly girls, rushing over to help him. After waiting 30 seconds for him to wake up and realizing he wasn't, the teacher began to panic._

"_D-does anybody know him?" A ton of girls began to take a breath, but Lightning came out first._

"_He's my roommate," she said. She was glad her voice came out calm and monotone considering her emotions inside."_

"_Do you know why he would faint?" Lightning shook her head. _

"_I'll call my sister. She's been with him all day."_

_Lightning picked up her phone and began to call Serah._

"_Serah? Hope just fainted. Yes, right now, in the middle of class. Is there a reason? He wasn't feeling well? He looked stressed? He hasn't eaten? Well, that pretty much sums up everything. Could you- come down, Serah. Could you come down here? K'. Bye," Lightning hung up the phone and stared at Hope. She felt this weird feeling of wanting to run and up and take him in her arms to wake him up. But all she could do is wait. She had never felt so guilty about hitting him this morning. _

_She suddenly heard Hope take in a sharp breath and slowly opened his eyes slightly. Lightning couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to Hope and stared right into his eyes. _

"Hope. Hope, honey look at me. Hope." Hope finally felt the urge to open his eyes barely, and, to his surprise, saw Lightning's icy blue eyes staring down at him. He suddenly began to notice the large amount of people all staring at him in fear and concern. Why was he on the ground? He would've gotten up and started to ask a ton of questions, but his body felt so tired that he couldn't really move anything but his eyes. Serah slammed the door open, with Snow following behind with only a little worry since he didn't know Hope very well. They both crouched down. And looked at him. Snow began to speak.

"Hope, you're gonna be ok. I don't think this was too serious because there are logical reasons you're on the ground right now, but just stay with me." Snow went to lift him up bridal style but Lightning stopped him.

"I'll do it."

"Oh, no, Light, it's fine. It's easier for me anyway." Hope heard the words slightly echoey, since he still has all messed up, but relaxed again when he felt arms lift him up and carry him out quickly, everyone staring in shock and in fear. Lightning wiped a single tear appearing on her face and sat back down, and the teacher shakily continued her lesson.

As soon as Snow got out the front door, he started sprinting towards the door, Serah not far behind.

"Why are you running so fast? I thought you said this wasn't serious?"

"I was trying to keep everyone calm. His fever's rising by the minute; we need to get him to a hospital. His pulse is slowing down. Stay with me, Hope," Snow said. Serah ignored the tears running from her eyes and obediently followed Snow to the hospital. Hope barely heard any of this. He just wished that Light wasn't so sad all the time.

_Thank you for making it to the end! It's 12:05 AM and I have the stupid Spring flu, so I should get to bed before I turn out like Hope lol. Thanks for reading! I'll put up the next chapter either tomorrow or the next day. But probably tomorrow unless I have a brain fart. Sorry to leave ya at a cliffhanger! I hope (lol) you enjoyed the story! Talk to you guys later! _


	3. Pretty Lights

_Thanks for returning! I said in my last update that I would update tomorrow, but then I realized that I wrote that today, since it was 12:05 AM when I finished it. I'm way too logical about this haha. So, yeah, update today. If you're still with me reading this little intro thing I'm still surprised because I'm probably rambling and boring you. But just in general I don't plan or anything before I write, I just think of it as I go, so I'm sorry for any grammatical errors. This story's gonna get more Lightning, I just haven't used her as much because I wanted to make it realistic, and I believe Hope wouldn't really be in the mood to talk to Lightning. But, anyway, enjoy my story! This may either be a long chapter or I'll put up two more chapters, so look out for that. Either way you'll get a good chunk to read. _

Hope was having the strangest dreams. It started off with him in some class at school and then he felt horrible, and then he remembers some guy picking him up. He misses Lightning.

Weird dream.

But the dream continues. He remembers being thrown through double doors and losing his grip on someone's arm, and then being thrown on to something and went through more doors. Then another. Then he remembers whispering in his ear…

"He's going into shock. We have to hurry…" Then he remembers an electric shock flying through his body like lightning… he misses Lightning…

Weird dream.

He remembers more voices, one of them is Snow's, at least he thinks, and he hears Serah as well. But he doesn't hear Lightning. Then everything is dark. And quiet. Then he would hear crying. He thinks it's Lightning. Whispers still echo through his body…

"Why do you care so much… Claire…"

"I don't know… Etro… don't… take him…"

Weird dream.

He remembers monotone voices… whispering…

"Coma… not… wake up…"

"It… impossible…"

"Lightning, don't…"

"The monitor… guys… damn it… Serah… don't… leave… love… you…"

Hope didn't hear the rest, since he was overwhelmed by a… rather… pretty light…


	4. Death and Rescue

_Make sure you read chapter 3 before this! _

_Hi! Sorry for annoying you the last chapter! I update really fast guys so try to check back every, meh, hour or so for now on. Hehe,no, like, two times a day. I just enjoyed writing that chapter so much it as hard for me to add more stuff to it, since I thought it was so pretty on its own! But don't fear! That one was only like 308 words but this one is probably gonna be longer than 308 words, haha. Enjoy! _

_Make sure to read the bottom! _

Hope realized he was in the nice light for a long time. Or at least it felt like it. Maybe it was only 5 minutes, but maybe it was years. Once getting to this point. Hope realized that his dream that he was having wasn't really something he fancied. He decided he wanted out. But that didn't really work in his favor, either.

"Hope."

"Mom?"

They were sitting at table suddenly. Just a plain white table in the middle of a plain white room. Hope was actually surprisingly calm, seeing his mother with him. It didn't really come to pass in his mind that he was dead at the moment.

"I want to talk to you before you go back," she said.

"But… what do you - where am I?"

"You're very smart, Hope. You're smarter than half of those kids in the class. You need more confidence. Oh, and I suggest that you talk to Lightning more."

"Why…?"

"Look for yourself," she said, smiling and starting to look down at the table. Hope looked down at the table as well, mimicking his mother's movements. The table was like a television. He saw… himself?

He didn't look very good either. He saw himself sleeping.

"Is this happening right now?"

"Just watch, Hope."

"_Hope's slipped into a coma. His chances of waking up are high," everyone started to smile, "but his chances of dying are about 90%." All of their eyes welled up in tears._

"Wha…" Hope looked closer. Was he going to die?

"_But… that's impossible! That can't be true!" Serah screamed. Light wasn't listening to them. Hope slowly began to look more and more relaxed. _

"_G-guys… Serah… Snow... Hope – the monitor – he's dying." Lightning's eyes began to water as she heard the beeping begin to slow down. Serah looked over in horror as she saw Hopes pulse slowing._

"_Damn it, no. HOPE!" Snow looked over at Serah frantically. Serah just started crying hysterically and ran out of the room when the monitor declared him dead. Snow ran out with Serah to calm her down, on Lightning remained in the room, in complete shock. She sat and stared at Hope for what seemed like months, then finally took in a breath._

"_Hope. I don't know if you can hear me… maybe you're watching me from death…" _

Hope darted up to look at his mother who remained watching contently as if it were a movie. Hope looked back down and continued to listen to this Lightning he barely knew.

"_I don't want you to leave, Hope. Please…" she finally began to cry again and then grabbed his hand. _

"_I… I love you…"_

"It's time, Hope," Nora said, giving Hope a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you, sweetie. Never lose the Hope you were named for. We will not see each other for a very long time. I promise. But you need to go back now." Hope nodded and gave his mom one last hug and took a deep breath, not knowing where Lighting was or what she was saying at the moment.

"Bye, mom," Hope whispered, and he felt his relaxed feeling turn into exhilaration.

"I don't want you to leave, Hope. Please…" Lightning finally began to cry again and then grabbed his hand.

"I… I love you…" she stared at Hope and waited. Then she unconsciously leaned in, and her lips made contact with his. She stayed for a long time, ignoring Serah's wails from outside the room, Snow frantic calls of trying to calm her down. And there she waited. Hope suddenly felt life placed in him and he kissed back. Lightning immediately gasped and flung back. Hope opened his eyes and Lightning looked at his beautiful gentle face. Lightning fell to her knees and hugged him and kissed him and cried, knowing that it was probably not her that brought him back to life, but she never felt so happy to have someone she barely knew back into the world.

Hope finally looked into Lightning's watery eyes and smiled slightly.

"Lightning… what happened?" he asked. It was a pretty simple cliché question, but he wanted to know.

"A miracle," she whispered, and embraced him one more time, Hope's eyes watering and hugging back. Even though he was still so weak, he knew he had the ability to move his arms and hug her back. They didn't even notice when Serah first walked in, looking like a zombie and Snow walking in, eyes watering and looking exhausted. They came back to say their last goodbyes and to their amazement they saw Hope crying silently and weakly hugging Lightning, who had a lot more energy and laughing as she hugged him back. Serah finally broke the 5 second silence and screamed at the top of her lungs. Snow looked in confusion and also he found it quite funny. Lightning just laughed silently harder and continued to hug Hope, who was now slightly smiling and covering his ears.

"B-b-b-b-b-ut. HOW? You were completely dead?" Serah laughed and sprinted up to Hope and hugged him.

"A miracle," Lightning repeated, finally letting go of Hope and whispering in his hear so quietly no one could hear or notice, "Don't tell anyone I kissed you," then she smiled and ran out of the room to get the doctor.

"Hope…" whispered, sitting at his bedside, smiling gently. Hope smiled back quietly. Snow was sitting in the corner, grinning widely, texting his friends at school. They probably were really worried, seeing as they saw Hope carried away, barely conscious and pale, and then Lightning getting a phone call 5 minutes later; all the students attempting to listen to Serah's weeping and the sound of machines and "clear" continually being played on her phone. They saw Lightning's usually bored looking face turn into complete horror and saw her sprinting out of the classroom, and didn't come back the rest of the day, neither did Snow or Serah, or, most importantly, Hope himself. Snow texted and called everyone, saying that he literally died then randomly came back to life.

Serah continued to look out the window peacefully, her eyes puffy but her personality back to normal. She slowly watched Hope resting, oblivious from everything that happened in the past 5 hours of being revived, being slipped into a coma, and then dying and coming back to life…

"Some first day of school…" Serah jumped when she heard Hope's scratchy voice, then she looked over at his smiling face and laughed. She watched him slowly fall asleep, and then they were interrupted by a door slamming open and a doctor for once actually looking happy. The door immediately snapped Hope's eyes open again. Lightning mouth 'sorry' to him, then the doctors looked at Hope.

"It's amazing. But I'm going to want to take some blood samples and other tests before we let him go, just to be safe," Hope looked a little worried; but he really just wanted to go home. Even though he couldn't go back to his own home, he would be happy to stay with Serah, or better, Lightning. It would be nice if she actually agreed, which was unlikely.

The doctor got out a long needle and filled it with liquid, and walked towards Hope, who gulped.

"This may feel cold," she said, and put it through the IV he had on. Hope shivered and tensed up, weakly looking at Lightning who grabbed his hand, and fell asleep.

"I figured we should do the tests while he's asleep; he's had enough happen to him today." Light smiled and sat in the waiting room, calling her friends and telling them she's ok, along with Serah and Hope.

After a couple days, Hope was released from the hospital. Most of his time there was him sleeping, waking up to eat some sort of smoothie, the only thing he wanted to hold down, then he would go back to sleep. Lightning thought he was too young for a wheelchair apparently, so she carried him piggyback to the car, Hope laughing at her stubbornness the whole way, and then fell asleep of his way back to the school. Once they got in the parking lot, Hope finally brought up the urge to speak up.

"L-Light?"

Serah and Snow looked over him, and Lightning replied with a "Hmmmm?"

"I think I left one of your suitcases in your room when you, kicked me out-" Lightning had a mild face of guilt when he said that, "So can I get it? It'll only be a minute-"

"But it's your room, Hope, get your stuff out of Serah and Snow's and then bring it right to mine. I-I'm sorry I kicked you out last week." Hope smiled. He was successful. Besides, he didn't want to sleep on the couch anyway. He would get his own room, and, things would turn out how he wanted them to be. Making friends, in a, rather unique way this time, and, almost having a mom again.

Lightning piggybacked the still weak Hope up the elevator, avoiding stares of a couple and people saying "Oh my gosh! They're back!" And then made it back to their room.

"The teachers said we don't have to go back to class for the next few days considering the trauma we all went through this week ," she laughed to herself and then walked to her room. She pulled out the suitcase he forgot and set it next to his other.

"That's all of your stuff, I think. So, do you want to do anything? You hungry, wanna do homework? Watch a movie, sleep?" Hope laughed at her hospitality and shook his head. After a couple of minutes of thinking, Hope suddenly felt super tired, and went back to sleep.

Lightning walked back in to talk to him about what happened, but then saw him asleep. She realized how late it was then picked Hope up like a baby and carried him off to his bedroom. She gave him a kiss on his forehead, then stepped into her room to crawl into bed. After sitting there for a few minutes, she got back up and sat in Hope's room on the floor, and fell asleep there.

_Oh my days I adored writing this! It was kinda emotional for me, since when I was 13, which was around 2 years ago, I went into a coma and it was hard because my family was so sad about it, and I don't remember most of it, since it all felt like a dream, but I obviously eventually woke up, and everything was fine, but I felt so much like Hope right here. :) SO, anyway, I am going to write a sequel to this, this was just an intense part to my big story, which I've realized is gonna take a LONG time to write. Oh no, hehe. SO much work. I will try to upload a new chapter everyday but for spring break since I live in California I'm going to Disneyland on Thursday and Friday so I may be gone those two days. But thank you for reading! I mean it! _


	5. Back to School

_Please read!_

_Hi! Sorry it's been a while, I got pneumonia and I'm in the hospital. How lovely right? lol So I am recovering so my mom brought my laptop for me so now I'm just gonna keep writing! Thanks for waiting!_

_P.S. Sorry if my grammar's bad or if the story stops making sense at some points; still recovering from surgery, and I'm super tired! (But my mind is full of thoughts…)_

Hope stared out the window with his eyes planted on a tree. He noticed Lightning was staring at him, but he just tried to ignore it and continued to look outside, his bag sitting on the floor next to him.

"Are you ready to go?" Lightning asked, kneeling down on the floor beside him.

"No," Lightning stared at Hope in small shock.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm embarrassed, Lightning. I died in the middle of class," Lightning chuckled a little bit then wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug.

"Then you'll be the center of attention, kid," Hope stared annoyingly but sympathetically at her then stood up and went towards the door.

"Oh, and um… Hope?" Lightning stuttered, walking slowly behind him.

"Don't… please don't tell anyone about what happened at the hospital. You know… me.. you know… ki-"

"It's fine, Light, I mean, we don't even like each other. You were scared and you… don't worry about it," he sent her eager face a lopsided grin and shakily ran himself out into the hallway.

"HOPE! GOOD LUCK!" Hope shot his head back and smiled as he saw Serah standing in the middle of the hallway and Snow's head poking out tiredly through the door of their room. Hope nodded and went down the elevator to his first class, determined again to get there early.

Hope sat in the middle of the classroom with kids staring at him. Some looked like they felt bad for him, and others looked happy to see him back in class again with them. And others looked downright frightened of him, which he thought was understandable since he came back to life. But he did find it quite funny that 21 year olds were scared of a 14 year old. When the bell rang, the teacher looked up and noticed Hope sitting in his chair, slightly nervous looking.

"Hope," she said excitingly, but calm at the same time. Of course, everyone shot their heads to the seat he was in.

"It's good to have you back," she said, giving him a soft smile. Hope nodded and smiled ever so slightly that you would have to look closely to even notice. The teacher hesitated and then spoke:

"How… how are you?" Hope blushed slightly.

"I'm… I'm ok." Girls smiled at hearing his voice again and the got the continuous feeling of wanting to run up and hug him and take him as their own child.

"Are you- you're staying with _Lightning _I heard?" Everyone, even the people who weren't females, looked up in horror. Hope just smiled bigger and smiled.

"I can't help asking," a girl yelped from the corner of the room, Hope looking over curiously. "Is she… treating you ok? I mean, no offense, but, you kind of are still little, you kind of have to pretend your roommate is a parent?" Hope laughed silently and just nodded, wanting to finish the conversation. He said he wouldn't say what happened at the hospital. He was still trying to get rid of the fact that he liked Lightning, let alone unconsciously made out with her. He sat and stared anxiously at his book, trying to ignore the stares of other students and listen to his History lesson, feverishly taking notes.

When the bell rang, he saw people beginning to look over at him, ready to have a conversation. He smiled at everyone then ran out of the class. He knew Lightning was in his math class and all he wanted to do was just be next to someone he knew, someone who was familiar with him, and, someone who didn't stare so oddly.

Once he got in the class, he sat close to her and looked up at her. She looked as serious and as scary as ever, but Hope could see through those big grey walls and was able to spot warmth. He tapped her on the back and saw Lightning turn around alert and annoyed, then saw her expression change to concern at his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, making sure there was nobody around her.

"People keep looking at me, like I said they would. And it's really getting on my nerves." Lightning rolled her eyes playfully and put her hand on his shoulder, not noticing the other students walking in and staring in awe. How was Hope not getting slapped in the face by trying to have a conversation with her? And what was she saying to him?

"Don't worry about it," she whispered, smiling slightly. "If they keep staring at you then I'll fix it. Just sit down, okay?" She chuckled to herself then slumped down on her chair, Hope sitting two seats behind her. She flung her head back to tell him something.

"Meet me in front of the fountain at break, okay? It's not a date, I just need to talk to you about something important." Hope nodded and curiously wondered what was going on, and, why did she look upset when she said it. A girl sat down quickly in between both of them, waiting for them to say something. Lightning completely ignored her and continued her whispering, students slowly sitting in seats around them. They've never really heard her talk that much before.

"Don't be upset about it, seriously. Just ignore it. Oh, and make sure when you go to that location that it's not bad news." She say Hope's face change to relief and focused on getting his book out. When he noticed all the people staring, he sunk down in his chair, wishing he never spoke in the first. He saw Lightning looking around, then she stood up.

"REALLY? Can human beings not have a conversation anymore without you assholes trying to listen in? Go! Sit somewhere else!" Everyone stared in utter horror for a couple of seconds then all sprinted to the far corners of the room, looking sympathetically at Hope's face, his mouth gaping open. Lightning walked up to Hope and went to whisper in his ear.

"I told you, I would take care of it." She grinned slightly at Hope's face, now grinning and starting to spurt out laughter. Everyone calmed down at the sight of Hope's cute chuckles then turned to face the teacher who was now just walking in.

She took notice of Lightning looking slightly satisfied but annoyed, and all the other kids all sitting at the back right corner of the room.

"Hope, sweetie what are you laughing at?" The class remained silent except for Hope, but all the students were slightly smiling, finding the whole situation quite funny. The teacher raised an eyebrow and then moved on to his lesson after hesitation.

After his Physical Science class Hope stepped out and walked towards the fountain and found Lightning sitting there, one leg bent and one leg straight, her uniform tie hanging out of her back pocket and fanning herself with money. Hope walked up to her and she smiled. Without speaking, she stepped over to the food station and bought two smoothies. Hope followed curiously and sat down with her by the fountain, a couple of students watching behind the bushed surrounding it.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"I know. What did you want to say?" Lightning set her smoothie down in the water, the cup floating perfectly like a little boat, waiting at the dock to be picked up.

"I may not be here for the entire school year. In fact… I may not be here to tomorrow. Don't give me that face. You know that I work with the police, and, they need me to investigate something that's been going around the city. People are saying that citizens are being attacked and having burglars in their house. And.. rumors of a fal'cie here. I know none of us have been branded before, so… And, I'm supposed to take care of it. And… I may not come back. So just in case, I may need you to stay with Serah and Snow if- until I get back, okay? I don't really want you in the hotel room in case you get sick again or, you need help with something. Hope. Hope, don't." Hope's eyes began to water. The students behind the bushes still couldn't hear what Lighting was saying, since the roaring of the big fountain. They just saw Lightning speaking, and Hope beginning to cry. What mean thing was she saying to him now?

"Why are you crying?" Lightning asked, trying to make herself stay calm so she wouldn't cry, too.

"I don't want you to die. Or become a l'Cie," he began to cry harder as Lightning wrapped her arms around him, her eyes finally giving in to the tears.

"If you really don't want me to go, I won't. But our safety, _your_ safety most importantly, is in danger, and, I don't know what I would do with myself if something happened to you because of me." She wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to hold Hope. She had never realized how little he was compared to her. He was like her son, her baby in a way, and she loved him so much.

"I honestly don't want to go that much, either." Hope continued to sob as he worried that he would lose the only family he had left.

"I love you, Hope."

She kissed his forehead and finally sat up, and ran back to the dorm room. Hope stood up quickly, not even noticing his smoothie being knocked over as he ran away, tears, still falling from his eyes. The students behind the bush stared in shock as they stared the empty fountain, Lightning's drink now sunken and at the bottom of the fountain, its lid the only thing concealing it from the world.

Hope stepped into the dorm room, ignoring the echoes of the school break ending and class starting.

"L-Light?"

There was nothing but the echoes of his voice vibrating through the walls. Hope shut the door.

"Lightning?" He leaned back against the door, waiting for an answer.

"LIGHTNING? WHERE ARE YOU?" Hope fell you his knees as his tears began to fall heavily again. He took in another shaky breath.

"Come back…"

_Wow! It's already been 2 hours? Wow, I've been taking a while to work on one chapter. Normally I just zoom through these things. _

_**ALERT: **The next chapter'll probably be up in the next couple of hours, actually, Since I have nothing else to do in this stupid hospital bed and I would've made this chapter longer, but I thought where it ended was a nice spot. My mom says I should stop doing whatever the heck I'm doing (I don't think she knows I'm writing this lol) and sleep. And I'm not really going to deny that I want to sleep. :) Talk to you guys soon! Please review otherwise I have no clue if anyone's really reading this! Hehe_

_*Passes out on the hospital bed after turning computer off* XD _

_**I love you for reading this! **_


	6. News and Earthquakes

_Hi! I'm back! Hospital update! Blech. I was feeling better when I was writing my 5__th__ chapter but right now my IV on my arm is hurting and I hate breathing cause it hurts and it's hard to, and I really want to stop breathing , which obviously isn't an option if I want to live XD. So, anyway, I'm just gonna think of stuff as I go, I have a couple of ideas… But yeah I'm not in the bubbliest moods right now so if my story is on the sadder end and not a lot of humor that's probably why. Thank you for reading!_

"Ok, almost done… Isabelle?"

"Here!"

"Serah?"

"Here!"

"Vanille? … Vanille?"

"What? Oh, present!"

"Snow?"

"Yeah."

"Lightning? No? How about Camille?"

"I'm here!"

"Hope? Oh, not here… Does anyone know where they are? They were in all their other classes before break…" the teacher looked down to set up a couple of things and then moved her head back up to see a group of students sinking in their seats.

The same students who were in the bushes at break.

"Why do you guys look so scared? Wait… do you know where Lightning and Hope are?" Serah and Snow looked curiously over at the students, one of the girl's eyes watering. They obviously weren't going to answer.

After a long hour of the last class of the day, Serah pulled out her cellphone and began dialing in the dorm number for Light and Hope.

Hope didn't know how long he lied on his side of the floor, his eyes staring at the carpet beside him. Suddenly a phone ringer exploded in his ears. He saw that it was Serah and ignored it, letting the tears unconsciously flow down his face.

Lightning was gone. And he may never be able to see her again. She was the only family he had at this point and it was almost impossible to think that he could lose another one.

Hope heard the phone ring again. He ignored it.

It wouldn't happen Lightning is too powerful, they wouldn't just let her die. No one would do that… would they?

Hope heard his cell phone start ringing. He ignored that one, too.

She didn't even say goodbye. Yeah, she said she loved him, but that wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to make him feel like he was ready to leave her.

He heard his text message go off, and he ignored that, too.

Everything would be ok. Hope was a l'Cie a long time ago when he was 5 years old. He barely remembers it, but his focus was easy and he turned to crystal, and within two weeks he was awake and his brand was completely gone. So obviously it probably wasn't too big of a deal. One of the biggest problems was the killings. He wouldn't let his family be killed by some murderer.

"…she'll call back then. Or maybe Hope will call back when he sees the messages. I think everything's fine, maybe they just went out. "

"Serah, it's the day of a big test. They wouldn't miss that on purpose. And did you see those other guys' faces when the teacher asked? That is NOT ok."

Hope heard the echoes of Serah and Snow's voice through the door as he continued to stay in the same spot in the middle of the room. After he heard their door close, he finally sat up, his head punding from all the crying, and threw some things into a suitcase. He walked into Lightnig's room and noticed all her stuff was gone. She really did leave. All she left was her cell phone, sitting on her bed. Great. Now he couldn't even call her to say goodbye. Hope whimpered his last teas out and looked in the mirror. He probably hasn't looked so crappy in all his life. His hair was shaken up, tears were dried up all over his face, his uniform wrinkled and baggy, and his eyes puffier than red hot air balloons. Not really caring about his appearance at the moment, he dragged himself out the door and stepped over to Serah's dorm, ringing the doorbell.

"Oh! Someone's here, Serah. I'll get it. It may be Light or Hope." Snow opened the door.

"Hope! Where – oh my god, what happened to you. You look like a zombie." Hope didn't smile to this, he just stared at the floor, another tear somehow managing to drip off his chin. Serah ran up and looked at Hope, her expression exasperated. They stared at him for a couple of seconds, expecting his to say something. Hope wanted to crawl back on the floor like he did a couple hours ago. Feeling two tired and sad to move on, he dropped to his knees and again and took in a shaky breath, forcing himself not to cry again. He couldn't be a baby anymore. Trying to conceal his tears, Hope let out a whimper is Serah picked him up. She knew that Hope didn't like being treated like a baby, but it was too hard not to at the moment. He sat down on the couch and waited for Hope to calm down. Snow sat down and waited.

After what felt like forever, Hope took in a breath and said briefly what happened to Lightning. Serah looked worried, but at the same time, relatively calm.

"Hope, Lightning will make it out of there just fine. I'm sure of it. Why are you so sad about this?"

"Because," Hope continued to sob slightly, "she's one of the only family members I have left."Serah hugged him tighter than stood up.

"Are you still okay with sleeping on the couch?" Hope nodded, realizing she was trying to change the ' family ' subjects as soon as possible.

A couple of days passed and Hope was never so happy that it was a 3 day weekend. It was pretty convenient knowing that he didn't want to go to school today anyway. Besides, this Monday was extremely eerie anyway. The sky was grey and the world seemed to have a slightly blue undertone to it. Every once in a while a little bit of thunder and Lightning would strike, which would make Hope a little upset again. Suddenly, as Hope looked out the window, he felt a strange shaking under his knees.

"HOPE! Get over here if you can! I think it's an earthquake!" Hope sprinted over to Snow, who flung his arm around his head, making sure nothing would fall on him. He looked over at Serah, who was safe under the strong wooden table a couple of feet from them. A couple seconds after the earthquake subsided, everyone was relieved that it was small and barely affected anything. Just a couple of broken dishes. Serah began to talk about how she remembered when she experienced an earthquake when she was little. Hope began to listen, until he heard something echo in his ears…

"Pitiful l'Cie… you may become one, Hope Estheim…"

Hope shot his hands up to cover his ears, then heard Snow calling his name over the sound of the whispers. Hope felt his legs shaking and his eyes going fuzzy… his heart slowing and suddenly a horrendous pain exploding in his head…. Until feeling a thump on the ground.

_HI everyone. I was going to write a long chapter but now I regret trying to write this in the first place. It's really late, a bit after midnight, and I really do feel exhausted. It's super hard to breathe and it's frustrating me, along with how hard it is to keep typing. :( So I'm just gonna upload this real quick and go to sleep i'll update in a couple hours or tomorrow i love you for reading this and I hope you continue to bye lots of love _


	7. Important Story Update

UPDATE

Hi, um, I usually don't use this website lol.

I should probably introduce myself. So, I'm thewhitespirit's older brother (I don't really wanna give away her name)

She told me to update for her since she's really sick. Like, seriously, let's hope she's gonna be ok so the doctors are kinda putting her in a doctor self induced coma I believe for like the next like, 3, days, it may be 2 days but I think its 3 _anyway_ she said that she'll work on the story as soon as she wakes up, (so determined lol) im pretty scared right now actually…

The doctors said she may have a chance of not waking up (its only like a 20% though) but it still scares me I really don't want that happening to a 15 year old :(

So I just hope that she's ok

Ok enough with the sob stories lol

and check for an update _daily _cause I don't think she'll leave this story behind! She's already asleep now but i promised I would write this for her. So please reply to this or whatever it's called… I think she said review cause I want her to read them when she wakes up.

She already typed this last night before she went to sleep and she said to put it in here:

Hi guys! I want to say thank you again for reading this I LOVE this story I'm typing really slow but WHATEVER I love fanfictions XD No matter what you say I may still update today? When I get the time, but my brother is telling me to stop typing and sleep (since he's the one at the hospital with me right now) but it's hard to sleep cause I'm scared I'll forget to breath, but this is the only thing I want to do when I'm awake. Keep reading and spread the word! Lol you don't HAVE to spread the word but it would be appreciated since I really do love writing this big ol school drama XD Writing a new chapter soon! 3


	8. Whispers

_Hi everyone! I'm in the ICU right now. :) I'm feeling a little better. But I can't really move anything but my fingers without getting tired hehehe. The doctors said they don't know when I'm gonna be allowed to go home, because they don't know when they're going to be able to stop giving me antibiotics and stuff. So really I've just been trying to basically learn how to breathe again (which I know it sounds kinda funny and stupid but I've basically been on a breathing tube since Saturday, and apparently I've been in a coma since Tuesday), and I've every once in a while had to cough up blood. Gross, I know XD. I believe but I think everything is gonna be ok! ;)_

_I think the worst things besides feeling so weak is having your parents and friends and other family cry. :( I absolutely hate it. Sometimes I just want to run up and hug them but I can't since I'm too tired. But don't worry, I'm not pushing myself :) I've been sleeping around… meh… all day XD. I don't have to eat because of the IV in my arms, so that's kind of nice cause eating is sort of a process for me at the moment. So really life isn't so bad. The only thing that's scaring me is that my best friend Annie, (Hi Annie, I love you! lol) said that the pneumonia spread to my other lung and I got really bad, and, I don't really remember what much happened after that, but I just remember waking up yesterday morning. And a lot of doctors were doing something to me. O_o. They (you know how negative they can be) are saying I won't make it. But I will, seriously. XD I can't physically talk right now since it hurts too bad but I wish I could tell them I'm physically feeling better, cause a couple days after I first was in the hospital, everything's kinda been fuzzy since late Monday night. I just remember waking up yesterday morning and my brother was really happy. And I remember people trying to say something to me, and now that fuzzyness is gone now and I can think clearly :) I guess I can feel my body repairing itself XD _

_Also, before we get into the story I want to say again, thank you for reading, seriously! Even though I don't feel spectacular, I'm so glad I made the decision of making a fan fiction account hehe. And it's cool to know all of you are praying for me and stuff so I'm positive I'll be fine! _

_Warning you in advance that this is going to be a pretty long chapter since I have a lot to I can finish it before wanting to sleep. I'm gonna try to stay awake for like 2 hours, then maybe I'll sleep a little and come back to it. I really don't want to push myself too hard, you know? I was gonna say something else but I forgot. Oh right, thank you for having to sit through my sob story of a life right now XD Hehe no it's not that sad, there are a lot of people in a worse spot than me :) _

_Thanks if you read all that stuff above and I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

It was exhilarating. A feeling of darkness swept over Hope, his body shaking uncontrollably, and his heart beating intensely. Despair washed around him, making him feel as if there was nothing left to live for.

Yet, tiny sparks of hope gleam in this big existence, like pearls in the murky water he imagined before him. He wished he could grow wings and fly away from this dim location, though he knew it wouldn't be possible.

Suddenly, flashes of horrifying images exploded all around him. First a monster, then someone laughing? A beautiful ocean, Lightning trying to grab someone's hand, and an electrifying golden light…

"Snow, do you remember when I had my first earthquake?"

"Oh yeah, I remember."

"I thought the world was ending! I remember screaming and running down the street…"

Snow drifted off from the conversation and looked at Hope, who was now staring at the floor, his eyes full of curiosity. He suddenly saw him shoot his hands up to cover his ears, tears beginning to flow down his eyes. Snow waited a moment for him to do something, but he just looked mortified. Snow cautiously took a step towards him.

"…Hope?" He suddenly saw Hope stumble to the ground. Snow screamed his name as he swooped his arm under Hope to try to catch him. Serah sprinted over to them, noticing how pale Hope's face was getting, and how hard he was shaking.

"Is-is he getting sick again?" Snow asked staring at Hope.

"I don't know. He looks completely different than how he did in the classroom-" Serah suddenly stopped when she saw Hope stop shaking and go completely still.

"H…Hope? Are you ok?" Serah moved in closer and let out a breath of relief when Hope's eyelashes began to flutter open again. They were all startled by the sound of a door crashing open. It was Vanille.

"WOW! Did you guys feel that earthquake? It was SO fun! I – oh my goodness, what happened?" Vanille sprinted over to the barely awake Hope.

"I think he's getting sick again," Snow said, looking up at Vanille nervously. Vanille looked down then gasped exasperatingly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Vanille, are you okay?" Vanille began to take sharp breaths, trying to speak:

"A-a-a-arm…l-l-l… oh my God…" Serah looked down at Hope's arm, her eyes growing abnormally wide.

"No. N-n-n-n-n-n-no… he's… NO! DAMN IT! No, no, no, no…" Snow now saw Hope's brand and abruptly stood up, stomping his way towards the phone; he dialed in a number he didn't even know he still remembered, and began to yell at the phone.

"I need to talk to Lightning Farron, she's at your station. Yeah, I – IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I NEED TO SAY TO HER IT'S AN EMERGENCY. YES! Thank you. Light, its Snow. Don't hang up – I know you're busy – just listen to me – LIGHTNING. LISTEN. Hope's been branded. He's a l'Cie. Come."

Snow hung up the phone and ran back into the living room where Hope collapsed. Serah remained there, Hope sleeping weakly in her arms. Vanille stood up and leaned against the wall, her eyes watering as she watched Snow wrap his arms around his girlfriend.

"Vanille, do you think you could get some – Vanille… are you okay?" Serah stared at Vanille with concerned eyes.

Snow knew from the second Vanille's expression turned discomforted, and when she covered her ears…

It was going to happen again.

Snow sprinted over to Vanille and caught her right when her legs began to cave in.

"Vanille, _please. _Wake up before it's too late. VANILLE!" Snow shook her until her eyes opened abruptly.

"My…" Snow leaned closer to try to hear her whispers. "My leg… " Snow looked at her ankle then slowly traveled up two above her knee.

"What? Vanille, I don't see anything…" Vanille mumbled something that sounded like 'higher' and Snow embarrassingly lifted her school uniform to find a l'Cie brand. Snow slammed the side of his fist into the wall and sat in silence for a minute.

"Snow, you should prepare…" Snow heard echoes in his ears, and butterflies began to crawl through his stomach. The voice was back. If Serah became one of those l'Cies…

"Vanille, are you awake? Good, can you stand?" Vanille nodded and stood up, her arm gripping Snow's shoulder.

"Serah. Grab Hope, we have to get out of here now. C'MON." Serah nodded obediently and threw Hope on her back; he was surprisingly light, so she sprinted out the door with Snow and Vanille.

Echoes of screams from other dorm rooms traveled through the students' ears, fear clenching their very souls deep inside. Vanille tumbled to the ground and Snow, who had prepared for it, instantly swooped her up bridal style and kept running.

"Thanks," Vanille said, holding her ankle trying to soothe the pain.

Serah began to vigorously press the elevator button, still hearing distant cries from other hallways and whispers of a nameless fear.

"We're not taking the elevator. I'm not risking the chance of us getting stuck." Serah agreed and tried to steady Hope on her back more.

"Here. You help Vanille walk, I'll carry Hope." They quickly switched jobs and began to thump down the stairs.

27th floor.

He heard shrieks of terror and weeping coming closer, and strange sounds of ore whispers, along with flashes of bright lights in the dim staircase.

18th floor.

Snow quickly looked back at Hope, who was still out like a light. Why was he out and not Vanille?

11th floor.

He looked carefully at Hope's brand. It looked different than it did when he first saw it. Did the brand already advance?

4th floor.

Snow's stomach jolted as he tried to ignore the thought of Hope changing into a Cie'th before he completed his focus.

2nd floor.

What was his focus?

Finally.

Serah yanked out her cell phone, helping Serah sit down in front of the school. Even though it wasn't far from the room, she knew they would all be safer if they weren't in there.

She dialed in the Guardian Corps number and waited a couple of seconds until someone picked up.

"Guardian Corps speaking, what's your emergency?"

"I need to speak to Claire "Lightning" Farron immediately."

"Uhhmmmm, she's not here. She stole one of the cars and sprinted out saying something about finding hope, whatever that means. What does she need to hope for? If you want-" Serah hung up and threw her phone on the ground, not caring the screen shattered. Where is Lightning? How far away is she?

Suddenly, a police car that looked like it had a drunk driver in it came bolting into the parking lot. Lightning burst out of the car, parkouring over the car hood and sprinting over to Serah. Slightly panting more out of fear than loss of stamina.

"Serah. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fi-"

"Good-where's-Hope-let-me-see-him-now," Lightning mumbled quickly, her eyes meeting with Snow, then seeing Hope leaned up against a wall on the ground. Lightning closed her eyes for a second, trying to avoid her anger to get to her. She wanted to rip out her dagger and stab Snow to smack some since into him. He should've known after the earthquake to leave before anything else happened. But what if Hope wasn't a l'Cie? It was too frightening to believe. She walked over to Snow, trying not to laugh at his preparation to put him arms up.

"I have to see for myself," Lightning said shakily, stepping over to Hope. Snow cautiously lifted Hope's limp arm and showed her the brand. Lightning quickly looked away as if it was an inappropriate picture.

The sky suddenly began to pour out rain as whispers began to screech in people's ears. Lightning picked up Hope on her back and began to run down the street. Snow, Serah, and Vanille sprinted to catch up to her, all of them ignoring thinking where they were going, or why it started pouring.

After what felt like forever Lightning finally halted. Serah took a second to absorb everything around her, raindrops plopping on her face.

Forest green colored trees danced in the wind as water splashed on the tips and dripped down to the soft, maroon colored dirt, which at the moment was transforming to slippery mud. Lightning dragged herself into the cave she was looking for, and everyone followed.

Vanille crawled her final steps in, and slumped down on back, panting wildly. Her hair was limp and had gone straight from all the rain, her two pigtails out revealing slightly longer salmon red hair and dirt smudged all over her legs and up her uniform. Snow, who was covered in mud and scratches from branches gently set down Hope, who's hair was tangled from the wind and his face pale from the sudden brand advancement. He still lay asleep as before. Snow heard him slightly regain consciousness halfway through their run, and then he heard him relax again.

"L-Lightning…" Serah panted, tear stains sparkling on her confused face.

"Why are we here?" Lightning glanced up at the thunderous stormy sky, then back at Serah.

"The fal'cie won't find us here. I couldn't let you or Vanille become a l'Cie…" Vanille sharply in took a breath; Lightning glanced over in hesitation.

"You don't mean…" Vanille nodded, and saw Lightning's face change to fury, then quickly back to her monotone, warrior –like expression.

"We need to sleep. We'll think about other plans in the morning. Everyone nodded without any hesitant thoughts and went to sleep.

"Lightning…" Lightning jumped at the sudden break of silence, and looked at Hope, who now was staring deeply into her eyes. Lightning stepped closer to him and kneeled down to look at him.

"What is it?" Hope blinked a couple of times to regain his bearings. He realized he didn't know where he was, but ignored it and grabbed Lightning's shoulder, pulling her closer. Lightning's eyes widened.

"I… I need to tell you my focus." Lightning nodded, preparing for the worst.

_Ok, well maybe it wasn't too . I'm tired, since I'm still really sick but I'm supposed to get another round of antibiotics in like 10 minutes, so I'm not allowed to sleep until then. Which drives me insane cause I'm so tired, so I figured I could write a little since I can't talk. My brother said he would try to edit major spelling errors for me. But I'm gonna go now since my chest hurts and I'm way too weak to continue. I love you all! :) _


	9. A Real Nightmare

_Oh, dear. I'm pretty sure you all know my now that whenever I upload a chapter nowadays, I have a very long explanation/excuse/story to tell about why I'm not uploading a story everyday or even twice a day like I used to. But this time, I really don't have an explanation! I've just not been feeling well, and that I'm going to try to sleep it all away. I was gonna start eating again so they (the doctors who have surprisingly grown quite fond of me!) took my IVs off but I fell asleep and I woke up with the IVs back on, my brother gone, and my friend there with me telling me that apparently its Thursday, when I last remember it being Monday, lol. But yeah, overall hospital overview if your still with me! You're all pretty much knowing the gist right now so I'm primarily just going to say that I am ever so slowly recovering! I've never really had a good immune system, and overall natural healing is better than getting a ton of medication. And really all I do is drink water and sleep. _

_Oh! Right! I'm out of the ICU now! Yay! After a week of sitting in an isolated room I get into a room with a television. Pretty sweet! And no, I have no idea when I get to go home… _

_On to the story! I have a pretty large amount of energy, not physical energy, obviously, but more mental. So I hope you like this chapter! I'll be subtly adding a quote from Noel in here. Just 1 sentence. 10 bonus points if you can find it… Heheh…Tell me in a review if you can! I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. :) _

Oh, also, I virus infected my computer, so now I have to rewrite this story all over again. I'm hoping I won't rush it, but I am pissed (pardon my language but it's the best word to describe it lol) cause the chapter was almost 4,000 words and I worked SO hard on it this morning. Grrrrrr… :)

"We need to sleep. We'll think about other plans in the morning." Lightning said. Everyone nodded without any hesitant thoughts and went to sleep.

"Lightning…" Lightning jumped at the sudden break of silence, and looked at Hope, who now was staring deeply into her eyes. Lightning stepped closer to him and kneeled down to look at him.

"What is it?" Hope blinked a couple of times to regain his bearings. He realized he didn't know where he was, but ignored it and grabbed Lightning's shoulder, pulling her closer. Lightning's eyes widened.

"I… I need to tell you my focus." Lightning nodded, preparing for the worst. She tightened her grip on his cold hand and began to become impatient. Hope took a couple of seconds to make sure he could explain it as clearly as he could. His heart clenched up in fear and he tried to stop himself from containing any sort of nonclarity in his sentence.

Lightning had never felt so horrible in all her life. Ever. She hated seeing Hope like this. Serah and Vanille, she hated seeing them like this, too. Even Snow. They all were exhausted, scared, mortified, even. Hopeless feelings drenching their hearts, making them too heavy to carry on without frustration. Lightning had to attempt to shut out her pain and focus on her goal. But somewhere beneath those layers of numbing pain, she wanted to disappear from this world completely.

"There was – are… you okay?" Hope whimpered weakly, Lightning jumping out of her trance to remember she was talking to him. She quickly responded back, making sure not to worry him.

"Oh, no, I was just not paying attention. Please, what's your focus?" Hope nodded shakily and took in an exhausted breath.

"There was… a river… and I saw –" Hope gasped in an abrupt amount of air and stressfully yelled out in agony. He could barely hear the echoes of Lighting screaming his name and shaking him. Snow was quickly awaken and alert when he saw Lightning screaming and Hope practically hyperventilating. What was happening now? As soon as he began to walk over he looked at Vanille to ask for help.

She was shaking.

"Vanille…" Snow whispered, approaching her cautiously. She suddenly cried out something and curled into a ball and shutting her eyes tightly, her fists clenched and her heart beginning to beat faster. Snow instantly changed his cautious walk into a sprint over to her. He grabbed her hand and tried to look into her eyes. He started to faintly begin to see her brand begin to glow, and he went into a panic.

"No, no, no… Please! VANILLE!" Vanille's closed eyes suddenly became relaxed and her fists unclenched, becoming more delicate.

"Vanille, are you okay? Why were you freaking out earlier? Hope's gonna be ok, I promise." He noticed that she chose not to answer. Snow quickly checked her brand, waiting to see an advancement like Hope.

But it was exactly the same as before. Snow drowned out the screams of Lightning and began to look at Vanille. It was then when he realized something that he begged to not be true.

He gently placed the back of his hand on her neck, feeling for a pulse.

But it was as silent as a windless lake in the dark of night.

He tried to prevent his breathing from becoming unsteady and put his hand on her stomach and his ear by her nose and mouth.

But she was as stiller than she could ever be on her existence in this world. Snow's eyes began to tear up as his normal strong, self – centered being began to tumble down under his feet. He whimpered out a cry of defeat. Vanille was gone. He couldn't let it happen. He unconsciously began to tilt her head back and pressed his lips against hers, blowing in as much air as he could. He threw his hands on her chest and began to try to make her heart beat again.

"Vanille… wake up. Please don't do this to us. Please don't do this to me… _Vanille!" _Snow let out grunts of anger as he waited for Vanille to come back.

Serah heard strange voices, strange sounds coming from places around her. She hated this dream. It was becoming a nightmare, and she wanted out. Her eyes shot open and feelings of relief washed over her.

Until she realized it was real.

Screaming echoed towards the front of the cave; Serah's eyes gravitated themselves towards it, and saw Lightning. She squinted to try to see in the dark, and suddenly saw the moon shine on Hope's shimmery green eyes, unfocused and staring into nothing. Horrified, she then watched Lightning's eyes sparkle with shiny wet tears and then splashing onto her face; she continued to shake him, screaming his name.

"HOPE! HOPE! COME _ON_, FOCUS ON ME! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? PLEASE! HOPE!" Petrified, Serah began to look for Snow. Why wasn't he helping her? What the hell was he doing that was more important that this? She suddenly heard the echoes of a cry coming from the back of the cave. Serah's expression became even more mortified when she saw Snow's lips pressed against _Vanille's_. Serah gasped slightly and tried to look closer, shakily and cautiously taking steps towards them. The rising sun made the sky blood red as it reflected off of Snow's face; Serah suddenly realizing he was trying to revive her. She covered a hand over her mouth to prevent a scream as she came up to Snow, who now had her wrapped in his arms. She watched as his body shake as he silently sobbed, clutching Vanille's body closer with every minute.

She hated seeing Snow sad. It wasn't really a common thing for him to be sad. Angry? Very common. But sad... almost impossible.

"S... snow," Serah whispered, her hand shaking as she went to touch Snow's shoulder.

"She – she's-" Snow didn't finish as tears began to flow down his eyes again. She heard his heard smash into two, and it echoed in her ears like a siren. Serah stared at Snow for what felt like years, waiting for him to calm down. A couple of centuries later he still hadn't stopped or gotten any quieter. Her eyes solemnly moved over to Vanille, who lay limp and lifeless, yet... peaceful in Snow's arms. And then she yet again had something pass into her mind. Vanille was gone.

And she was never coming back. Why didn't Serah wake up earlier? She could've helped Snow with the CPR... or she could've called someone if she didn't throw her phone on the ground when he tried to contact Lightning. Guilt washed over her. This was all her fault. She could have solved this. Vanille would've survived. Vanille. Sweet as vanilla, as tough as a rock when she needed to be. As beautiful as a rose, as delicate as one, too, but as mysterious as hot weather when it rains.

She suddenly snapped herself out of her trance and realized that Lightning wasn't screaming anymore. She left her mourning Snow to himself and stepped unconsciously over to her sister. She noticed that Hope's eyes were now closed, his breathing unrecognizable and his silver hair blowing softly in the slight breeze. She saw Lightning, who now was sitting with Hope lying in her lap. Her head was down with a look of defeat in her prayers and her eyes were closed as well, her breathing loud and steady.

Serah took a moment to look outside of the mouth of the cave. The sun shined brightly over the forest, making all the trees glisten and blow gracefully and the grass sparkle with an after the rain dew, green and lush from the rain the night before. Serah inhaled a deep breath and smelled the water and felt it lightly repair her heart on the inside.

It was then that she noticed that the usual obnoxious loud bird chirping she would normally hear was silent. Her pupils lifted themselves up into the trees and saw all the birds staring down into the deepest part of the cave, their eyes large and doll like. Serah didn't dare look back at Vanille or Snow again. She looked down at Lightning.

"Light... is-"

"Is what?" Lightning mumbled; Serah noticed her body shrinking in sadness.

"Is Hope... okay?" Lightning looked up at her little sister with a sympathetic, apologetic expression written on her face. She waited a couple seconds until she saw Serah's face on the verge of crumbling, then nodded. Both of their eyes shot back to Hope.

"His brand advanced again," Lightning said, her voice cracking with every word. Again? When was the first time? Serah felt guilt trying to drill its way from the back of her head to front; she continued to try to push it back and fill the whole it drilled with other feelings, but the drill kept turning back on and forcing its way through. Serah kneeled down and lifted Hope's clammy wrist, noticing arrows beginning to shoot out the side of his wrist. Serah wiped a tear and set his wrist down gently and waited for Lightning to say something.

"...Vanille, could you give me the map in the bag?" Serah's soul jumped as heard Snow flinch from the edge of the cave and she waited for him to say something. Great, she would have to say it herself.

"Claire? Vanille is..." she whimpered and grabbed Lightning's hand. Lightning shook it off as she picked up Hope and confusingly followed Serah towards Snow. Was he laughing? Wait... was he... crying? Lightning handed Hope to Serah and stepped over to Snow.

Then she saw something horrifying. She slid down on her knees and stared at Vanille. She noticed how unconscious she looked. Slowly tilting her head, Light's stomach lurched as she realized something.

"No." Lightning simply stated, tears welling up in her eyes again. She abruptly shoved them out of the way and looked up at Snow.

"NO, no, no, no, _Snow... how?_" Snow shakily stared into Lightning's eyes and as fast as he could he explained what happened. He looked like a zombie after. Setting Vanille down, he walked over to Hope.

"What's wrong with him? God forbid he got taken to." Serah shook her head then pointed to Hope's wrist, dangling from Serah's body. Snow grabbed it and noticed the large arrows and the microscopic eye that had appeared in the center. Trying to avoid anyone seeing his fury he turned around and looked at the front of the cave and saw someone standing in front of it, one of their legs casually bent and a staff in one of their hands.

"I can help."


	10. Reunited with Bullets

"NO, no, no, no, _Snow... how?_" Snow shakily stared into Lightning's eyes and as fast as he could he explained what happened. He looked like a zombie after. Setting Vanille down, he walked over to Hope.

"What's wrong with him? God forbid he got taken, too." Serah shook her head then pointed to Hope's wrist, dangling from Serah's body. Snow grabbed it and noticed the large arrows and the microscopic eye that had appeared in the center. Trying to avoid anyone seeing his fury he turned around and looked at the front of the cave and saw someone standing in front of it, one of their legs casually bent and a staff in one of their hands.

"I can help."

No one knew who's voice it was that came from the edge of the cave; they answered anyway.

"No, you can't. She already dead." Lightning said bluntly, anger clouding her vision. There was a quiet moment of silence before they spoke again.

"I don't mean Vanille… I mean to get you all out of here. The best thing you can do is get out of this cave and back to the school. The fal'cie is moving, you know." The person began to approach Snow, who now stood up to look at her. She put her hand out in front of him, Snow shaking it back anxiously.

"Fang."

"What?"

"My name is Fang." Everyone looked up in confusion, even Hope. She turned on her heel and began to walk out of the cave, lifting her hand up to swing it, motioning for other people to come.

Everyone stood up and began to follow. Serah looked back at Vanille's body, blinking suddenly to avoid the tears from reappearing; she was still trying to realize what was happening. It was all a blur. She figured that this was the best place to keep as her grave, since she knew nothing would happen to her, and she had to be honest and realized that it would be way too tough to drag a dead body with them everywhere. Snow stepped over to Hope and began to scoop his arms under him.

"I can walk, Snow," Hope said, his voice exasperated. Snow grinned slightly and kept walking, watching Hope carefully.

A roaring sound began to flow throughout the cave like a river. The group jumped and followed Fang into a sprint, hoping to avoid any danger.

Echoes of gunshots split through their ears as their legs ached to collapse. Lightning's eyes would shoot over to Hope whenever she saw him trip out of the corner of her eye. She watched his face become more and more determined, and his eyes become more and more pained. It felt like they had run for hours, until they finally saw signs of some people. Some Pulsians sat on the sidewalk curb, staring at l'Cie marks, while other walked normally, unknowing of what happened to others; confused why they were running.

Hope hyperventilated as he felt like his legs were going to give out, his wrist simmering with pain, his head throbbing. Abruptly, his numb legs felt something go through him. He ignored it and continued running, feeling a bit more confident as he quickly caught up to the back of the group. He went to take another step on his leg, which suddenly gave out, making him trip and somersault over on the ground. Everyone continued to run ahead of him, not noticing what was going on behind them. Hope stared in horror as he saw his legs coated in a thick layer of blood. He took in a deep breath, realizing how dizzy he was beginning to feel from the loss of blood. He used his arms and his other leg to push him back up and keep him from falling again. Hope whimpered in disapproval when his leg gave out again. He was glad it was numb from running, or else the bullet in his leg would've hurt more than hell. He began to limp on one leg, knowing he would have to cause some sort of scene to make someone on the busy street notice. _Why am I doing this?,_ he thought, then took in a deep breath. Right when he was about to call for help, he felt his leg give out again, leaving him kneeling on one leg. He realized his leg wasn't very numb anymore and felt the agonizing pain from the bullet.

"He can't walk," Hope heard whispers coming from the trees near him.

"Get ready, we'll finish the l'Cie off." Hope's eyes widened as he looked at the bushes for people, and found nothing. He heard a bang and suddenly felt something slice across his side. He yelled out and felt rivulets of blood beginning to pour out of him.

"Damn it, you practicallyt missed! Ahhh, I'll take care of you later. Let's go before somebody notices…" Hope heard them run away, and saw people beginning to look at him. A rock suddenly met the side of his head, making everything spin like a carousel.

"Oh my god, that kid got shot!" Lightning heard a woman scream from a couple of streets away. She turned her head to see if Hope had gotten scared from the comment. And noticed he was gone.

"Stop. Everyone STOP." Lightning panicked, frantically looking around. Snow ran up to her.

"Where. Is. Hope." Snow whispered. Lightning started shaking and started to run through the streets, the group following close behind her.

Hope saw people beginning to run toward him, his eyes covered in a misty layer. A college aged girl caught Hope when he began to tip forward, setting him on her lap. Hope looked up at the woman. This wasn't Lightning. He looked at all the people surrounding him. It wasn't Snow or Serah, or Vanille.

"Hey, can you hear me?" The girl shook Hope who looked at her with unfocused eyes. He tried to tell her he was all right, but a metallic taste simmered in his mouth. His eyelids felt heavy as he continued to feel his blood leaving him, and he gladly let them close. _When Lightning comes, I'll be ok_…

The woman stared at Hope for a moment in shock and looked at all the other people watching.

"Call the paramedics."

Snow sprinted through everyone on the sidewalk, fear clenching him inside. _What if something awful happened to him?_

"Excuse me," Snow approached a group of people to maneuver around them, only to find Hope. His torso and his leg blood stained, and the side of his head oozing out blood. He pushed everyone out of the way and lifted him up.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked obnoxiously, threateningly standing up them realizing he was 2

feet taller than her .

"He's... my son. I'll take him to the hospital." Snow lied, sprinting to find Lightning, Serah, Fang and Van-.

Nevermind.

"LIGHTNING! I FOUND HIM!" He heard thumping footsteps of her loud boots thumping on the sidewalk.

Her eyes widened when she saw Hope's body in Snow's arms. With a worried expression on her face,

Fang made her way up the stairs, everyone following at full speed. Lightning shut the door of Serah and

Snow's dorm room that they had barely used this school year, wiping the blood of her face in which a bullet skidded.

"Is everyone ok?" Fang asked, waiting for their nod of approval. She began to quietly walk around the room, observing their living habits.

Meanwhile, Serah, remained at the door, breathing heavily, her eyes begging to water.

"Hope. Hope please... _answer me!_" Snow shook the lifeless Hope and realized that he was losing blood. He looked over at his girlfriend.

"Serah. I need you to go to the science lab across the street and get a plastic tube. A long one."

"But why do you-"

"GO!" Serah jumped and sprinted out the door. Snow silently prayed in his head, Lightning watching him then doing the same.

Hope opened his eyes and looked around. _Great. I'm dead again, _is eyes searching around the white nothingness that surrounded him. He jumped at the sound of a voice echoing through the nonexistent place he was in.

"Hey Hope." He saw her. His eyes widened as he looked at her school uniform perfect and free of dirt, her eyes glistening and casually sitting on the white floor beneath them, a bright smile on her face.

"Vanille…"

"What did you need this for?" Serah handed him the tube and he stood up, running into the kitchen. Picking up a steak knife, Serah gasped as she saw him walk back over to Hope and Lightning. He took the knife and grabbed Hope's arm, and taking a deep breath, the stared at for a moment to find the right location then stabbed the knife through his veins. Hope didn't even flinch. Blood began to seep out. He ignored Lightning's feverish questions and began to quickly slice his own arm, putting the thin tube in an then putting it through Hope's.

_I don't think I'm doing this right, but it could work. _He waited a minute and saw his blood going from his own arm into the teenager's.

_I don't even know my blood type, this isn't going to work. _Snow ripped the tube out of his arm and heard Lightning's throat escape a sob. _He's just hurting him more._

Snow lifted Hope's arm to take the tube out and noticed that he had no pulse.

"Vanille… what are you doing here?"

"What? Oh, I'm dead." Hope smiled, _Why am I smiling? And why can't I stop?_

"Yeah, I know. I... saw. So does that mean I'm dead, or... am I gonna come back like last time?"

"Last time?" Vanille asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, this happened before with me and my mom, like, a couple weeks ago, actually!" He grinned awkwardly and walked over to Vanille, sitting down and putting his arm around her. Why was he so relaxed and happy?

"Cool, really? Normally people can get this once in a lifetime. And that's not common either. Oh, and heck, yeah, Hope, you're gonna come back!" She giggled to herself, seeing relief come on his face.

"Just like last time," she whispered, yanking a pen out of pocket. She ripped off his shoe, Hope laughing confusingly.

"'K. I need _you_ to call this number when you come back," she scribbled something on the inside of his shoe. "and then, I need you to tell whoever answers the phone this..." she wrote this more carefully, taking her time, knowing that she had lots of it.

Snow took in a deep breath and experienced déjà vu, putting his mouth on Hope, blowing in air. _I'm so glad I was a lifeguard, even if this didn't work last time. _He continued to blow his air into Hope, only stopping to take in more air. He heard the sobs of Lightning and Serah, trying to ignore them as he pressed on. He just wanted to call 911, but he knew he didn't want to risk sending a l'Cie there. One IV in his arm, and they would know. He began to bang on Hope's chest with his fist, his eyes beginning to water again. He wasn't going to let Hope die. Not this time. He already has to life with the guilt of Vanille why must he continue on with another person. A child, to be exact.

"He continued on for what felt like years, listening to Serah's cries become louder and louder; Lightning was doing the same. Snow didn't care if it took days, he was going to bring Hope back.

"You got that? Ok. Here you go! Don't lose it!" Hope laughed and put the shoe back on his foot, retying it to make sure it wouldn't come off. The only thing he worried about is that it wouldn't be on his shoe when he woke up.

"Oh no," Vanille gasped, looking at her watch. "Hope, I've gotta go, and so do you, and if anyone asks you, _don't _tell them that I'm alive, and I'm coming. But I really am." Hope's eyes widened and he grinned like an idiot, wrapping his arms around Vanille. She smiled and patted down his hair.

"Don't forget!" she cried, standing up. Hope looked like he was going to say his goodbyes, but Vanille quickly put a finger on his mouth.

"Don't worry, Hope! I'll see you tomorrow, jeez," she ruffled his hair back again and started to run, toward nothing. Hope followed, not knowing where else he was going to go. He felt a bright light meet him, and he was excited to yet again, come back to life. He actually found it quite funny that in the past month, he's already pretty much died twice. He waved to Vanille and checked his shoe one last time, suddenly waiting to breathe again, a sad darkness greeting him.

"HOPE! PLEASE!" Snow called, looking at the clock, realizing it had been almost 15 minutes. He knew it wasn't going to work, but he continued to press his hands on Hope's chest, begging for his heart to beat. He placed his mouth on Hope's again, giving all his air to him. He jumped when he felt Hope suck his leftover air and saw his eyes shoot open. Lightning looked up and saw Hope's eyes blinking rapidly, his lungs gasped for air, his throat giving out sounds of struggling, yet relief. Lightning was so ecstatic she felt light headed. Snow smiled when he saw Lightning drop to her knees, a smile growing on her face and her eyes glowing the ocean at sunset.

"I've got you, Snow's got you," Snow said, wrapping his arms around Hope, feeling satisfied when he felt Hope's breathing calm down and gently rested his head on Snow's chest.

Hope felt relief when he realized he was alive. He went to thank Snow, but it tended up coming out as a whimper, making Snow wrap his arms around him tighter. Lightning finally stood up and ran to Hope, shoving her arms around him and letting her tears dry away. Hope felt so much relief when he felt Lightning with him. She was so comforting, just like Vanille...

_Vanille!_ Hope abruptly shot up, everyone looking down at him in confusion. He looked down at his shoe and took his non bloody arm to check if the writing was there. Oh, how he wished it was there...

And it was. Hope grinned and rolled off of Snow's lap. He felt his head begin to throb and ignored it, limping his way to the phone, knocking things over along the way.

"H-Hope? What are you doing ?" Lightning asked walking towards him, Snow beating her to it and starting to walk towards him swifter. It wasn't exactly difficult since he was going so slowly. Snow put his arms under Hope's small waist and turned him around, noticing the determined look on his face. Hope finally came to his senses and realized how much his leg hurt. He let it give out and knew that Snow would catch him, feeling satisfied when he did.

"Hope, what's going on? Look at me Hope, it's me, Snow. Are you okay?" He looked Hope in the eye. Hope nodded skeptically and moved his head over to the phone.

"I have to call someone," he cracked out, realizing his voice sounded a lot worse than he actually felt, which was pretty bad, too.

"Hope, honey, can't that wait?" Lightning called, finally walking over to them again and kneeling down to look at him. Serah continued to watch in disbelief, Fang in front of her, the same expression on her face remaining. Hope frantically shook his head. Snow worryingly grabbed the phone with Hope in his arms, handing it to him. Hope could tell he was shaking. Hope looked down at his shoe again and pressed in the number; Snow set him down on the kitchen counter, all of them waiting to see who he was calling.

"Hello?" Hope jumped when he heard the soft voice of a girl around his age, he guessed answering the phone. He looked at his shoes one more time, memorizing its contents. He still didn't know how he remembered it so easily. It was as if he wrote it himself. He brought in a shaky breath, trying not to take notice of the tension immediately rising in the room.

"She's alive, just in the white room. She'll be here tomorrow. And so am I. I was... there too." Hope smiled, as he continued to talk, everyone looking at him a bit frightened he looked so happy in such a scary situation. "Also, I want to say that it's back, and you should have nothing to fear as long as you believe. I heard the message, so now I have to go, but, do you know what I'm talking about?" He heard a giggle from the behind the phone and jumped again, realizing how familiar it sounded.

"Hope! Awesome, I knew you would call! It's Vanille. I'm alive again, and you're calling on my phone actually. I don't really want you to leave cause of your condition but tomorrow night, meet me at the fountain in the college at midnight, then I'll come back with you to the dorm when I'm done talking to you." Hope closed his eyes and mumbled to himself their meeting location, making sure he wouldn't forget. But it wouldn't be too hard, since it was the place he had to meet Lightning. He shuddered from the memories, and focused back on the phone.

"Ok..." he whispered, starting to shake. Vanille was actually alive. And he was gonna see her again.

"Hope, you're gonna be unconscious for a little while longer, but trust me, you'll be fine, and by the way, Snow did mouth to mouth on you." Hope's eyes widened and then he laughed at Vanille's goofiness in a slightly serious situation.

Everybody stared at Hope in disbelief as they saw him give away strange messages, laugh hysterically and then stare into nothing, then begin to speak again. Snow knew he would probably be mentally unstable when he woke up, but not to this extent. He saw Hope's hand weaken drop the phone after a few silent seconds, the batteries shattering out rolling to the far ends of the room. Snow picked up the falling Hope and set him in his lap.

"Hey Hope, look at me." Hope looked up at Snow, his eyes blurring. He looked up and saw Lightning, finally knowing that she was there, and he was ready to sleep.

"Snow, I'm exhausted..."

"You can sleep now," Lightning said barely above a whisper, her tone sympathetic but full of love. Hope let his eyes close, and he drifted off to sleep.

Lightning stroked Hope's hair as he lay on her shoulder sleeping, both of them lying on the couch, a blanket thrown over them. Hope lied with bandages all over his leg and under his shirt, and also wrapped around his arm from the blood donor attempt. Lightning casually watched TV then stared at Snow, who was concentrated on the ground. She saw him get up and pick up the batteries still lying on the ground, and watched him jam them back in the phone. He began to click on buttons as if he was searching for something. Lightning almost laughed at him. What was he doing? Her expression changed when she saw his eyes grow wide and look down at Hope, who was still sound asleep.

"What?" Serah asked, leaning forward in her chair. Snow squinted in confusion and pressed a button on the phone, waiting for something to pick up. They heard a voice play and watched Snow drop the phone, too, the batteries flying out of sight again. He lost his balance and slammed against the cabinets, causing Serah to stand up.

"The number he called..." everyone tensed up in the room, even Fang, whose fists were clenched and her breathing heavy.

"Was Vanille's." Serah gasped dramatically and mouthed "what?" as she walked over to Snow.

"I need to ask him," Snow said, walking over to Hope; Lightning leaned back nervously. He began to shake Hope, and after a few seconds he finally came to. He fluttered his eyes open and stared at Snow, who was now looking a bit scared of the kid.

"Why... did you call... Vanille?" Hope's eyes widened and looked at Snow, who now knew by this point that it truly was Vanille who he called. He saw Hope visibly shaking. He knew it would be too early to basically interrogate him.

It was impossible. He could've just been leaving a message. He was barely awake when Vanille had been completely dead.

"Were you just leaving a message?" Snow asked skittishly, watching Hope immediately nod. Relief washed over Snow's face. He was such an idiot. Hope's mid was messed up at the moment. He probably didn't even know that Vanille was dead.

Hope let out a breath of relief. He was so glad to let Snow think it was a message. He would have to continue to ask disoriented until tomorrow so he could find Vanille and bring her back to everyone to get to spend time with her. He would have to keep it all a secret and play dumb. He let in a struggled breath, but tried to stop it from sounding so bad. It was too difficult.

"And what would be wrong with calling Vanille? She's... she's just a person..." Hope felt guilty when he saw everyone in the room's face change. Snow looked at Lightning.

"It's too early to tell him," Lightning whispered, thinking Hope couldn't hear it. Snow nodded, then looked back at Hope, trying to grimace a smile on his face.

"Oh, nothing, Hope. You've rested a little bit; let get the blood all cleaned off of you."

Snow stared at Hope's leg for a minute, biting his lip, not knowing where to start. He poured water on his leg and winced at Hope's scream that faded into hissing in disapproval, then finally quieting down.

"I'm _so_ sorry Hope, I just have to make sure this doesn't get infected."

Snow hated having to endure through Hope's screaming and the feeling of his fingernails digging into his shoulders whenever he put alcohol or even water on his leg. It was even worse when he moved to his side. He noticed Hope sort of getting used to the pain, and instead of screaming resorting to wincing and grabbing onto Snow, tears welling up and going away in his eyes.

After what felt like forever, Snow finished putting bandages on Hope and hoisted him up into his arms, walking out and into Hope's room, putting him on the bed and promising to tell Light he would say that he was ok; he stepped out of the room. He noticed Fang looking over a map and saw Lightning and Serah with headphones in their ears. He saw how pained Lightning looked pained. He figured she was trying to block out Hope's screaming.

"Hey." Snow said walking toward Lightning, trying not to laugh at her startled flinch she made.

"Is everything ok?" Lightning asked, concern in her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine-"

"Not YOU, you idiot, _Hope. _Is _Hope_ okay?" Snow nodded, attempting to put a hand on Lightning's shoulder, watching her scoot away from him. He shook it off by speaking again.

"His wounds definitely aren't going to be infected anymore. A poured alcohol on him, that why he was screaming-" Lightning closed her eyes for a moment, trying to refrain herself from slapping Snow. "So after that, he fell asleep, so now he's in bed now, but if you want to go see him, I'll wake him up." Lightning shook her head, she didn't want him to deal with anything anymore for the rest of the day.

Morning finally came and Hope was awakened by Serah, who was gently shaking him. He went to get out of bed, completely forgetting about his leg as he felt it give out from under him. Serah gasped and grabbed him by the waist, practically beginning to laugh.  
"Hope, honey, your leg, remember?" He nodded apologetically then was greeted by Lightning, whi picked him up and walked him over to the table in the kitchen. He looked over at the window and saw his homework lying below it. It completely slipped his mind that he was at school. Realizing it was dark outside, Hope looked at the clock and noticed it was 11:45. Of course. Just when he needed to head out to see Vanille. Go figure.

"I know it's late," Serah said, shuffling through the cabinets, "but I figured you should eat something since it's so late."

"You slept through the whole day!" A voice echoed. He smiled when he recognized it as Lightning, who was surprisingly joyful sounding. He shoveled down the oatmeal Serah gave him and Snow carried him back to his bed, asking him if he wanted to sleep more. Hope nodded, wanting him to leave as soon as possible so he could leave to find Vanille.

"We have a lot to talk about tomorrow, kiddo," Snow said, setting Hope on his bed. Hope figured it would probably be about Vanille, or his l'Cie brand, or his schoolwork, or anything primarily no one really wanted to talk about. He waited until Snow's footsteps disappeared. He grabbed the crutch Snow had bought for him just in case he needed something. Even though it was still hard to use, because he was still weak, he climbed out the window and went to go meet the person who thought he wouldn't see for a long time.

_Dayuuummm that was exactly 4,300 words! That is a LOT more than y usual 2,100 lol. I did this all in one sitting! Booya! I just REALLY needed to get this out of my head after sleeping for so long, so here I am! SO yeah, my goal for making longer chapters is slowly progressing! So yeah, I have been resting, and I'm gonna be allowed to leave the hospital later this week as long as I really don't leave the house, cause it wouldn't be good for my health. :) But whatever I get to leave this depression they call a room! XD Thank you for reading and reviewing, it means the world to me *getting teary eyes* I just love this story and I feel like it's starting to make more sense. Speaking of that, I need to say that last chapter was supposed to be VERY confusing on purpose hehe. So don't worry if you didn't get it. I wanted everyone to basically be half asleep and not know what was going on. Ok, so I'm gonna revise this, then go to bed ;) See you guys later this week!Feel free to personal message me! I looooove talking to you all! Lots of love! _


	11. Visions

_I haven't really taken the time to really properly thank all the people who read this :) So, thank you! Especially __xX Katie-San Xx__ and Lightarcana, cause you guys review my chapter everytime and my face lights up for every review! Oh, Lady Alaska if you've made it to this chapter since you're done with yours, hiii! XD _

_Oh, right, hospital update. I'm just got out today! Which is cool, cause then I'll have my xbox and I can play FFXIII all over again, and then FFXIII-2. Yay! And homework, since I can't go back to school this entire year since it's gonna take me another month to fully recover. _

_So. Onto the chapter! Thank you for reviewing and just reading it in general, because I do generally like writing it and I'm getting a bit more... structured, I guess you could say? ;) Oh, and longer, too. _

"Hey. Snow."

"Oh, Lightning, what's wrong?"

Lightning leaned against Snow's door a couple of hours after Hope went to bed, casually crossing her arms. Snow sat at his desk on his laptop, eyebrows raised.

"Thanks."

"For what, Light?" Lightning sighed and tightened her jaw, swallowing hard to prevent her tears. She finally let in an awkward breath.

"Thanks for saving Hope."

"...It was nothing."

"UH, no it wasn't. Snow you brought someone back to life." Snow's eyes filled with pride as he continued to try to keep a straight face.

"I mean, if you didn't do anything… if we didn't find him fast enough..." Lightning's eyes filled with tears as she slid down Snow's door. He ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her. He'd never seen her like this in the 4 years he'd known her. She continued to shake with sobs.

"I was so terrified! I didn't know what to do or where to go, if he would live, or if he would die..." Snow held her tighter, not noticing when Serah came and wrapped her arms around both of them.

"I'm still scared about the whole l'Cie thing! You don't even know what it's like, being in the middle of a Guardian Corps and getting a phone call saying he was a l'Cie! What if Serah became one? What if you became one? What if it never happened to Vanille, she would've lived... _she would've lived!_"

"Lightning, I thought you didn't know Vanille that much..."

"I took her for granite. I'm such an idiot. I should've known about the earthquake. I could've gone and gotten you two..."

"Lightning! Look at me! You can't blame yourself. I'm not a l'Cie, Snow's not a l'Cie either; we're safe!"

"Vanille wasn't safe. And Hope _isn't_ safe." Snow finally looked back up at Lightning, his eyes solemn and guilt clouding his eyes.

"Light, if anyone is to be blamed, it would be me. I could've gotten Hope and Vanille out of there right after the earthquake happened. We were supposed to evacuate anyway; school procedure. I'm sorry. It's hard, since Hope's gonna be crystal now in less than a couple of years..."

"Or a Cie'th ."

"Lightning, stop." Lightning stared into Snow's eyes and waited a moment for him to say something.

"I'm sorry... I'm just a little freaked out right now," Lightning whispered, finally standing up, nodding to them.

Lightning walked over to Hope's room, not bothering to knock. She slowly opened the door.

"Hope?" she asked, looking around the room. She walked over to his bed. Her eyes growing wide in shock.

He was gone.

Lightning didn't even realized she was screaming. She lost him. Her life was over. Despair made everything fuzzy. Hope was gone. He was gone. He was gone...

"LIGHTNING!" Snow ran into Hope's room, his eyes drenched in fear as he grabbed the continuously screaming Lightning by the shoulders. Lightning finally realized she was screaming and stopped. She stared at Snow with a slightly disoriented expression. Snow moved his eyes over to Hope's bed.

And noticed the open window.

"Lightning. Where is Hope?" Snow asked, preventing himself from panicking Lightning any more. She stared at Snow for a split second then began hyperventilating. Snow shook Light slightly, yelling for help when Serah ran in.

"CLAIRE. You have to listen to me. You need to calm down!" Snow shook the dorm room as Lightning continued to have a panic attack. Serah stared at Lightning for a moment and it immediately came to pass in her mind that Hope was missing.

Lightning scratched the back of her head before sitting up, realizing she was on the couch in her dorm room.

"Oh, Light, you're awake! Are you all right?" Lightning stared at her for a minute, confusion clouding her head.

"...What?"

"You passed out. Who knew that something could be too much for the great Lightning Farron!" Lightly felt proud of herself, happy that she had made that impression on people.

Lightning began to recall what happened. Her first tears since the hospital, her outburst at Snow, her feeling dizzy...

And Hope. He left. He was gone. He was injured. How could he leave when he was injured? Why would he want to leave?

_Hope._

"We wait." Lightning jumped at the sound of Serah's voice. She must have said his name aloud.

"What do you mean we wait? Hope's out there, he's probably close to death! How are we supposed to save him?"

"I said, we wait, Light. Hope'll come back. I promise. He wouldn't just come and leave us like that. He was too weak to even stand, let alone move at all."

"We can't just wait forever!"

"Light…"

"We'll wait for 2 more hours, then I'm looking for him, and there's nothing you can do to stop me, even if I had a gun to my head, you're not stopping me." Serah waited for what felt like forever for Lightning to speak again, feeling relieved when she finally heard her speak.

"Where's Snow?"

"In Hope's room. He's waiting for him to come back through the window." Lightning stared at the floor then got up, walking over to Hope's room and sitting next the blonde, who was sitting anxiously by the window.

"Can I stay here? And wait with you?"

"Yeah, of course." Lightning sat next to Snow, which she knew was probably going to be on her list of regrets in her life later, but this wasn't the time.

Lightning stared distantly out the window, a blue haze casting over the city. Light could see all the classrooms glowing with light from kids in cram school and study hall. Every second felt like an entire lifetime, every minute feeling like the course of history.

And there she waited.

For her Hope to come home.

Hope neglected the blurriness in his eyes as he ran towards the fountain. He didn't know if he was going the right way, or if he was moving at all, but he would get there. He would get there without a doubt. He had to able to see Vanille again. He wanted to make sure everything that was happening was truly real. That all his visions and phone calls had led up this one moment.

He knew he was just going to see a friend he thought was dead, but it felt like so much more. He wanted to prove to Light, Snow, and Serah that he was stronger. That he could make it to the fountain, and come back with their friend that meant so dear to them behind him.

The world felt silent besides him. There was no one yet. Everyone was asleep, everyone was studying; there was no reason to be outside. Unless you had the same reason as Hope.

Hope suddenly felt something hit his knees as he slammed himself into something hard. He felt gentle arms catch him, and sit him down. Hope looked up and noticed where he was.

He was at the fountain. He dipped his fingers in the water, letting it ripple outwards, the moon reflecting on the surface of it. He looked straight ahead and saw a face that he recognized.

He found Vanille.

Hope smiled and wrapped his arms around her, Vanille giggling with excitement. She whispered his name and stared into his eyes for a moment before taking hold of his wrist. Hope met her eyes again with a look of confusion in his expression. Vanille put her other hand on top of his l'Cie brand, closing her eyes and letting tears fall. Hope felt a strange feeling toward the bottom of his stomach, butterflies beginning to travel up and a tingling sensation in his arm. He looked at Vanille once more when she opened her eyes, still not saying a word. Hope looked at his arm, his eyes widening with shock, fear, awe, and happiness at what he saw.

His brand was gone.

Hope's mouth gaped opened, his heart beginning to race. Vanille grinned again, pulling Hope in for another embrace and whispering his name.

"H-How did you-"

"I'm a seeress, Hope."

"But that has nothing to deal with-"

"I know. I just needed to let it out. That's why I died earlier. A vision."

Hope gazed into her as if she was an interesting book and finally blinked. What did she see? That means she would have to die…

Over,

And over,

And over again.

Vanille studied Hope for a minute, their faces solemn. Vanille was almost telepathically communicating with him; Hope knew what she was trying to say. She would have to go soon.

"But I thought you were going to come back with me?"

"I can't. And I'm so sorry about your injuries, you'll find out who did it later," Vanille's face changing to a bit of an aggressive expression. She continued on:

"I can get rid of your brand. It's too hard to explain why, you'll find out later. But I have to tell you that I really wish I could help you with your gunshot wounds." Hope nodded, smiling slightly. He closed his eyes for second and felt warmth inside of him; golden light blinded his green orbs when he opened them. Vanille's voice echoed through Hope's soul as he felt a relaxing aura surrounding him.

"Hope, even though you don't know me all the well, I knew you so much more than you thought. Be prepared for the journey ahead…"

Hope nodded to her voice and let the glowing light come into him.

He was back at the dorm room. He was standing in front of the window.

Lightning waited next to Snow for what felt like forever until she finally left to check on Serah. She was going to leave soon. There would be no way she could wait any longer. She would search in hell for him if she had to.

Snow waited impatiently , leaning against Hope's bead, staring at the window.

And there he waited.

Hope could feel his body was drained of all energy. He was losing more blood, his head was hurting. His side was making it hard for him to breathe. Hope took hold of the window and was able to pull himself up, a whimper escaping from his lips.

Snow jumped when he heard a yelping sound coming from the window. He immediately snapped out of his daze and ran over to the window, just then realizing Lightning wasn't in the room. He saw something that he wanted to see, but also wished it didn't happen in the first place.

He grabbed Hope's waist then quickly grabbed his arms instead when he heard Hope scream in pain from his side. He dragged him in, staring at the teenager in horror or a moment then trying to shake him awake.

Hope fluttered his eyes open and looked up. He saw Snow hovering over his body and felt relief. He made it back.

"Where were you, Hope? Why?" Hope heard Snow's voice echo in his ears, and looked to the left of him.

And saw Vanille. Hope tried to motion his eyes to Vanille, and when Snow looked over, he saw nothing.

"What were you looking for? Hope, stay with me, talk to me, buddy. Tell me where you were."

"The... fountain" Hope squeaked, staring at Vanille. "Looking for..." He saw Vanille wave to him and disappear.

"You." Hope was staring into Vanille's eyes, ignoring Snow...

Snow watched, mortified when he saw Hope's eyes closed. _Why was he looking for me? I don't understand, I was here the whole time... he saw me when he went to bed... what's going on with him?_ He didn't know why Hope said the words that came out of his mouth. He finally realized that no one knew Hope was back yet.

"SERAH! LIGHTNING! FANG!" Lightning's voice echoed through the hallway.

"Oh, Fang's gone. She left about an hour ago. She said she would be back tomorrow. Oh, and I'm-" Lightning finally came up to the door, gasping in despair and skidding over to Hope.

"You found him." She whispered.

"He came back, just like I said," Snow said, visibly shaking.

Lightning noticed this and looked at Snow, as well as Serah, who was at the doorway.

"...What?"

"Light, he said he was looking for me."

"_What?_"

"I don't know why! I just know now that we can't leave him alone, I'm afraid he'll do something dangerous to himself again..."

Lightning stared at Snow, finally realizing that she was holding Hope's hand.

Hope opened his eyes and began to focus around his room. Everything was dark except for the hint of moonlight seeping through the window. He finally focused on a person in the corner of the room. Squinting, ne realized it was Lightning.

Her face was filled with an emotion that Hope had never heard of. Was it sadness? Was it anger? Was it both?

"You're awake." Lightning said, finally looking up from the floor she seemed to be so fascinated with.

Hope nodded, his green orbs begging Lightning to come over to him. Lightning finally stopped resisting and stepped over to Hope, almost cautiously.

"Can I ask you something?" Lightning asked, kneeling beside him. Hope nodded again, his expression impatient.

"Why were you looking for Snow?" Hope was a bit taken back with confusion for a moment.

Snow? He wasn't going to look for Snow. He was looking for Vanille. And she...

"Lightning!" Hope yelled, making her jump and lean closer. It finally came to pass in his mind that he didn't tell her about his brand suddenly disappearing.

Lightning stared at Hope, nervous for what he was about to say. She could tell it was something very important.

Hope weakly lifted his hand and rested it on Lightning's, causing her to look at it.

"What?" Lightning wondered, looking at Hope's face glowing from the moonlight, tears shimmering from his eyes, back to his wrist. He was smiling slightly. It looked normal, why was he showing to her? Hope looked desperate. He finally began to speak.

"Light. My..." Hope suddenly felt dizzy again and let the black cloudiness overwhelm him; Lightning couldn't figure it out.

"Tch." Lightning sat up and looked at Hope one more time, before sitting down in the corner of the room again.

"Want me to take over?" Snow's voice echoed coolly through the room. Lightning nodded immediately, leaving the, room, leaving Snow surprised by her answer. She wanted this all to be over. The last couple weeks have been absolute chaos. She would've much rather just sat through the long days of school than this.

Snow looked at Hope for a second until he walked over to the window. He pulled out a window lock and made sure it was so tight that it would be impossible for anyone in the house other than Snow to open it.

Stepping over to Hope, the blonde shook him slightly, causing Hope's eyes to open instantly. He was obviously not in a deep sleep at the moment.

"What is it?" Hope whispered, looking around for Lightning.

"I need to ask, you, Hope, why were you looking for me?" Hope closed his eyes for a minute to try to tell his answer to Snow, who was staring at him anxiously for a response. He finally spoke.

"I wasn't looking for you."

"But you said-"

"Someone else was in the room when ... when you asked me." Hope stared at Snow for a minute, trying to ignore his almost scared expression.

"Who?"

"Um... Vanille-"

"Hope. We – I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"Vanille is dead, Hope. She died back in the caves..." Hope of course already knew this. He didn't know what to tell him. Should he tell Snow that he knew all along?  
What if he got mad? What if he kicked him out because he already knew and he wouldn't be able to see Lightning? Ok, he was having irrational fears now. Maybe he should just tell Snow and get it over with.

Or he could just pretend that he didn't know Vanille was dead and he could pretend to just find out, and be sad. But it would be hard to be sad, since he knew Vanille was alive. He knew. And he tried to show his brand to Lightning, but she figured she had forgotten about the brand at the moment. He had proof Vanille was alive. His brand was gone. He was a l'Cie no more. No crystal stasis, no Cie'th, nothing he would have to worry about unless he was branded for a third time.

"Hope." Hope blinked a couple of times to realized Snow was hovering over him, moving a hand over his eyes, trying to catch his attention.

"Oh, good." Snow said pulling Hope in his arms.

"Look, kid, I know this must be hard to deal with Vanille's death so sudden. But I need to know why you were calling Vanille's number and trying to look for her... Did you know she's dead?"

Hope immediately looked down and tried to come up with something. He needed to stop lying. One lie leads to another. There should be no reason that he shouldn't tell the truth.

"Vanille is alive, Snow." Hope finally flung out of his mouth, mortified to see Snow's reaction. He just looked solemn.

Snow felt so bad for the kid. He was going crazy. One thing kept happening to him after another. Ever since he came. Snow now was 22, and he had never been through something like this in his life as much as the 14 year old did. Besides the fact that he was an orphan, too, Hope was really in a bad way.

"She took my brand away." Snow darted to Hope's green orbs that were pleading for some sort of answer. Snow immediately grabbed Hope's wrist and examined it, then the other one, just in case.

"_What?_" Snow felt shivers go up his spine. Why was his brand gone? Was Hope really telling the truth? Hope was grinning slightly, excited that Snow had some form of belief in his eyes.

Hope wanted to stand and run to Lightning to confess to her everything that had happened. He wished his stupid leg would have dodged that bullet.

Then again, he may had not have been able to see Vanille again.

He had to get everyone to see Vanille.

"Hope, listen, buddy, I want to, I really do, want to believe that Vanille is alive. But she was more dead that a rock when we left her. Something happened back there that I still can barely remember. I don't know how your brand is gone, but what I do know is that it couldn't have been Vanille..."

Snow tried to force himself to imagine that Vanille was alive. But it was too hard to comprehend in his mind that the person he failed to bring back to life was here in the same planet as them.

"Hope, what did Vanille tell you?" He saw Hope's eyes lighten a bit before speaking weakly.

"She told me that she could take my brand away, and she... did, which you saw." He smiled slightly. "But she said she couldn't heal my gunshots wounds but she could take me back and I came back here and I saw her again when you were able to pull me out of the window when you rescued me and then I-remember-her-looking-at-me-before-darkness-"

"Hope! Shhh. It's okay, you don't have to say anymore." Snow couldn't understand him from his rambling. He saw the teen immediately close his eyes and go to sleep.

"Serah." Snow called, a serious expression on his face.

"Take over for me, I need to think." He practically ran out of the room, Serah slightly awestruck by his actions as well. She looked at Hope, then quietly sat by the window, looking at the moon slowly beginning to leave, the sun starting to peak out from its darkness.

Looking closer, she looked at a blurry image outside the window. She squinted her eyes to see better and noticed that it looked like a person. Her white dress flowed slightly as she walked eerily towards what looked like her. Serah closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her tiredness catching up to her.

When she opened them, she screamed for what felt like forever, though it was only half a second. She saw her staring at her, eyes glowing slightly and a solemn expression on her face.

"Serah, it's me," Vanille said, waking towards Serah. Serah backed up, slamming her back into a desk, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Please don't freak out," Vanille whispered, attempting to place her arm on Serah to comfort her. Serah panted heavily as she watched her friend she thought to be dead back away from her. Biting her lip, Vanille walked over to Hope, shaking him awake.

"Don't touch him." Serah cried, realizing it came out of her mouth. _Vanille's my friend. Why am I so scared? I should be happy..._

Hope opened his eyes and smiled at Vanille's face.

"Why... didn't you come back with me at the fountain?" Hope whispered, his eyes begging to close.

"I don't have much time." She grabbed a pen from the desk where Serah was at, and took hold of Hope's wrist. Serah wanted to do something. She wanted to punch Vanille, she was terrified. Why was she here? And what was she doing to Hope? Serah leaned in closer, struggling to see over her shaking.

Vanille was writing numbers. Lots, and lots of numbers. Hope just stared at Vanille, his face with a slight content expression on it.

Serah finally managed to pick herself up, stumbling over to Vanille.

"Vanille... what are you doing?"

"Serah, you may or may not remember I was here, okay? But we will meet again. Soon."

"V-Vanille, I'm confused... what's – what the _hell _is going on?" She ran up to touch Vanille, feeling her fingers go right through her. Gasping, she fell to her knees and waited for her to stop writing the numbers.

So this Vanille was a ghost. She knew she couldn't be alive. She looked over at Hope, awestruck that he didn't look horrified. She finally stopped writing the numbers. Hope looked up at her, his eyes perked with curiosity.

"Should I call them again? W-what do I say?"

"They'll know." Vanille smiled, and leaned in towards Hope.

And wrapped his arms around her.

Serah's eyes widened as she saw his hands not going through her; Vanille finally let go and climbed out the window. Serah gave her one last mortified look at Vanille before she saw Hope screaming at the top of his lungs at both of them. Serah felt tears pouring down her eyes before everything went black.

Serah opened her eyes and noticed she was in Hope's room. It was light and beautiful outside, and Hope was asleep soundly.

What just happened?

_All done! That was the last chapter of the story, so haha Just kidding! Anyway, yeah don't tell me in the reviews it didn't make since at the end, because again it wasn't supposed to XD I love you all and see you later next week! HAPPY FRIDAY! Thank you for reviewing, it means the world to me!_

_Next chapter: Serah finds out what actually happened, and we learn more about the fal'Cie. SO basically the answer chapter :D _


	12. Almost Complete

_Yo! This is chapter 12, right? How are you all doing? Good? Awesome! So, I'll start with saying thank you so much for reviewing; I've hit 40 reviews by the way, which is cool, since this is my first fanfiction. Which is why it's kind of a fail at some times. XD SO yes, I'll give you a couple of answers in this chapter for confusing stuff and yeah! I really want to see the Avengers, but cause I can't leave the house and a movie theater could like, kill my body XD , I can't. Grrr…€you fellow Americans out there should tell me in a review if it was good! Or personal message me, whatever works! Enjoy the story!  
_

"They'll know." Vanille smiled, and leaned in towards Hope.

And wrapped his arms around her.

Serah's eyes widened as she saw his hands not going through her; Vanille finally let go and climbed out the window. Serah gave her one last mortified look at Vanille before she saw Hope screaming at the top of his lungs at both of them. Serah felt tears pouring down her eyes before everything went black.

Serah opened her eyes and noticed she was in Hope's room. It was light and beautiful outside, and Hope was asleep soundly.

What just happened?

Sitting up abruptly, Serah took another examination of the room. She stared out the window, confusion clouding in front of her eyes, her heart still racing.

Stepping out of the spot she was at, she walked out of the room and glanced around.

It must have been a dream. It had to be. There was Vanille in it, and she knew that she was gone.

"Didn't sleep well, did you?" Serah yelped, jumping at Lightning's monotone voice.

"Oh! Lightning! Did you sleep well?"

"No."€

"Oh, well, I have class today, and I was wondering if I should go... never mind, I won't-"

"No, it's ok, you can go. Either I or Snow'll stay with Hope."€

"Thank you! What time is it? And also, tell Snow that he doesn't have to go to school today, I mean, if he wants to stay home with you that's fine." €

"Oh, it's 9:04. So I would suggest that you leave soon, and no, Snow is not staying here over my dead body. I am not gonna be with that stubborn thing for the next 7 hours."€

Serah ran out, almost laughing to herself and also feeling hurt that Lightning will never approve of Snow.

Lightning waited a moment before placing herself in Snow's temporary room: the floor in Lightning's bedroom. She chucked a pillow at his face, causing him to sit up abruptly.

"H-hey, Light. It's so early, why are you getting me-"

"You have lessons today, big schoolboy. Go. I'll stay here with Hope, 'k?"€

Snow nodded, still half asleep, and hobbled his way to the bathroom. When Light heard the shower faucet finally turn, she walked back into Hope's room, shaking him slightly.

"Hey, Hope. Wake up, kid." Hope's eyes fluttered open; he blinked a couple of times to regain his surroundings, trying to forget the incredibly strange dream he had.

Lightning was in the dream. She saw Vanille, and so did Hope. He remembered talking to the seeress, and telling her things. He remembered her slight melancholy smile and her beautiful dress, her green eyes similar his, and, the fear in Light's. He remembered everything was dark and eerie, and she had a message. If only Lightning saw what had happened for real, then everyone would believe that Vanille was alive.

"Do you want to go get breakfast or something?" Hope snapped out of his thoughts, trying to make sure the dream would stay as far back into his head as possible.

"N-no, I'm good, thanks, Light." Lightning nodded and reluctantly left Hope's room. It seemed like he wouldn't leave anytime soon. Leaning against the door, she began to recall the dream she had last night. It was sort of like a nightmare. Someone was attacking Hope. Someone in a white dress that looked like Vanille. She remembered the writing she had put on his hand. And how horrified she had been. Never in her life had she been that scared over something as simple as a visitor in the middle of the night. She had dealt with these situations before, enemies coming in, in the middle of the night. But this time it was a dream. It wasn't even real. Why was she even worrying so much if the dream wasn't even real in the first place?

Hope waited until Lightning's footsteps were inaudible to him before he walked over to the window.  
He had to go find Vanille again. The dream wouldn't be leaving his head anytime soon, and he had to speak to her.  
Hope quietly placed his hands on the window latch and went to yank it open.  
Great. It has a lock.  
Hope tried twisting the lock, cursing to himself for still being weak and the lock being so tight. He noticed the keyhole and immediately walked into Lightning's room, shuffling through her desk  
drawers.  
"Come on, it has to be here somewhere... come on!" Hope mumbled to himself, not realizing all the thumping noises he was making.

Snow stepped out of Lightning's shower, silencing himself to hear the sound of banging outside of the bathroom. He got dressed and stepped out of Lightning's bathroom and saw Hope, feverishly shoving things on the floor in Light's room. He watched almost with interest as Hope continued to destroy her room. Snow's heart stopped when he saw Hope grin at a key he pulled out. Snow tried to call his name but felt as if his feet were planted to the floor when he saw Hope hop on one leg, away from the room and down the hall.  
Snow finally managed to get up and run towards Hope, who was still limping down the hall. Snow watched him look back and his eyes widen in fear.  
"Hope. Give me the key."  
Hope's eyes widened as he continued to not say anything. Snow cringed when Hope put his foot down and fell over, yelping in pain and holding his leg and awkwardly crawling away. Snow took advantage of this and sprinted over to him, careful not to touch his legs and grabbing his arms, pinning him down.  
"Hope. Hope, look at me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's not that big of a deal. Give me. The key."  
Hope shook his head and continued to struggle out of the man's grasp, visibly failing.  
"Ok then. The hard way it is." Snow said almost monotone.  
He sat down on top of Hope's waist, making sure he didn't put all his weight on the kid. He grabbed hold of Hope's hand and yanked the key out of it, causing Hope's hand to get scratched and little droplets of blood to come out.  
Hope looked at Snow, a furious and disappointed expression on his face. He needed that key. He needed to get out and see Vanille. He couldn't have anyone protect him anymore. All that mattered was to make sure that everyone was safe from the fal'cie, especially Lightning. He had to let everybody know Vanille was alive.  
Trying to get the key back, Hope twisted his waist and stumbled to get his legs free, kicking Snow in the chest. Snow immediately pinned Hope down again and put the key in his pocket. Hope continued to helplessly squirm and wait until Snow would get off him.  
"Hope. I'm sorry, you're just craz - I mean, a bit unstable right now. I need you to calm down. Stop hitting me. Hope. Stop." Hope shook his head as he tried to reach to Snow's pocket. Snow finally stood up and threw Hope over his shoulder, heading down the hall and towards the front of the dorm room.  
Lightning was in the kitchen, chugging coffee with her headphones in. She looked up and saw Snow walking briskly with Hope yelping and hitting him. Ripping out her headphones, she ran up to Snow.  
"Snow... What the hell are you doing?" Snow pulled the key out of his pocket and stuck Hope next to Lightning.  
"Hold him." Snow said, walking into the kitchen. Lightning recognized the seriousness in his voice and kneeled down to Hope, who had fallen on the ground, holding his leg. Lightning grabbed Hope's hands and pulled them behind his back. Hope gasped and looked back at her, his eyes full of hatred. Lightning was taken aback by this and held his wrists tighter. They both looked up and saw Snow throw the key in the sink.  
Lightning could hear Hope's heart beating.  
Lightning saw Snow turned on the garbage disposal, and heard Hope scream out, bowing his head in defeat.  
Lightning sighed and wrapped her arms around Hope; she could tell he was crying.  
"Hope, it's not that big of a deal. It's a key, okay. It's a key." Hope went to stand up and run away, but instead hissed in pain, cursing at his leg.  
Lightning stood up and motioned Snow to get out of the room. He looked at Hope solemnly and walked with Lightning out of the room, leaving the furious teen helpless. He wanted to crawl, limp, do something to get out of here. Hope waited until he heard them in another room and closed his eyes, trying to think of a way to explain.

"Why did you throw away the key? Did he try to use it?"  
"Yeah..."  
"What's the big deal, Snow? Seriously, if he wants to go let him. Let him go kill himself for all I care."  
Snow backed away slightly. He could tell Lightning was lying.  
"Snow... I don't think Hope is psychotic. Okay? I... I had a - a dream last night..."  
"Wait. What? I had a weird dream too..."  
"Was there Vanille in it?"  
"Y - yeah... I was in a room and there was Hope there. He was talking to Vanille and then she left, Hope started screaming and -"  
"I had the same dream..."  
"Figures."  
Lightning suddenly heard Hope calling her name. She walked out, Snow following close behind.  
She saw Hope sitting on the floor again, his knees tucked up to his chin and a phone in his hand.  
"Who're you talking to?" Hope held up his wrist, causing Snow to stumble back and Lightning to skid forward. It was from the dream. Was Hope not crazy? Was Vanille really alive?  
"Lightning." Lightning moved her eyes into Hope's waiting for him to speak again. Serah walked through the door, suddenly hit by all the amount of tension in the room.  
"She wants to talk to you. Trust me. It's real."

_Ignore that this was a super short chapter. I'm releasing more later this week :-)_

_It's gonna have more school stuff and more fal'cie stuff instead of Hope and Vanille stuff, cause obviously you may know what happens next XD Arigato! _


	13. Education Connection

_Hi guys! First of all I'm going to start with two apologies. The first one being that those weird symbols that looked like this: €, yeah… they weren't there when I typed it on my computer, but they kept popping up whenever I tried to edit it. So I just gave up lol. They will not be there this chapter. I forbid it! Hehe anyway, so the second apology is that I've taken a bit of time to update. Yeah… I just like, have been busy and tired and a whole ton of other excuses. But I just finished my studies today, so I'm out for summer! Hurray for that! So I may be updating around every day! Enjoy the chapter!_

"She wants to talk you, Light. Trust me. It's real." Lightning shakily grabbed the phone and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?" She mumbled, waiting for a response.

"Lightning?" She heard the person on the other line sniffle and then take in shaky breaths.

"Lightning! Oh my god, Lightning, I've missed you so much, you don't even know-"

"V-Vanille?"

"Yes, I – I know you're probably thinking your insane right now and I know that you must be freaking out but I really want to let you know that I really do love you and miss you a lot and you're an awesome friend even though you scare me and I had to visit you through a dream and I feel really bad about scaring you and I just want to say-"

"Dear God, Vanille, you need to slow down!" Lightning said, wondering why tears were flowing in her eyes. Why was she still smiling if she was crying?

"I – I'm sorry! I just – oh my goodness – I'll be back soon! I'll tell you everything when I get home!" Lightning prevented her hand from shaking as she set the phone down.

Everyone in the room continued to stare in disbelief at her. She finally looked over to Serah and Snow.

"Guys?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Can you go?"

"Why?"

Lightning stood up by then and began pushing Snow out the door, Serah following confusingly.

"L-Light? Hey! What the hell?"  
"Snow, just shut up and wait outside."

Lightning stood for a moment after the door slammed.

"Hope." She whispered, walking over to him. He still hadn't spoken since she talked to Vanille.

"Hope. I – " Lightning took in a deep breath and tried to regain herself.

"I…am so… so sorry…"

"Don't mention it."

"No, really, I mean it. I'm sorry I called you crazy behind your back, and I'm sorry I haven't told you about my dream-"

"You had it too, huh?"

"Y-yeah. I had it, Snow had it, apparently you had it. I just wonder if it was real."

"_It was." _ The two of them gasped when they heard a voice that didn't belong to either of them.

"Vanille!"

"Guys…" Vanille's smile was solemn, but had a hint of joy.

Hope's face immediately lightened up and his mouth grew into a grin. He knew it was real.

Lightning ran over to Vanille, hesitating for a moment before hugging her. Hope continued to sit on the floor, his heart warming. He knew he was right. Vanille was back, and they were back at the school. The fal'cie was moving, he wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.

Suddenly, something struck in his mind.

"My brand is gone, Light." Lightning immediately looked back at the silver haired teen, feeling her cheeks warm up. She stepped over to him and looked at both of his wrists.

"Holy crap."

Hope chuckled happily at her reaction and smiled back up at her.

Lightning tilted her head slightly when both of their eyes met each other.

She felt her hands turn to ice and her face warm up even more. Her lips began to tingle and her heart stopped. The pink haired girl felt the strangest feeling in the pit of her stomach as Hope continued to not stray away from her gaze.

"Hey… Light? Do you think – wha?" Hope jumped as Lightning's lips met Hope. She felt a slight disappointment when he didn't kiss back, but her heart longed to continue. There was nothing around her. Everything was perfect. She ran her hand through his silky hair and then finally let go. After staring at the floor for a moment, Light stared back up at Hope.

Hope felt completely awestruck, amazed, in love. He let his eyes pop out of his head and his jaw drop. The innocent teen could feel his cheeks go red.

"Woah. Light. Ning. Farron."

Lightning's head darted over to where the sound had bounced off her ears. Her heart stopped once again, this time out of shock, at the sight of Serah, Snow, and Vanille all staring agape at the sight before them. Snow's mouth forced unintentionally to a minor grin; he crossed his arms and finally looked at Hope, who still was speechless.

Lightning stood up, breathing heavily, accidentally slamming her back into a cabinet.

"Uh. I, um. Heh, uh…" Lightning walked backwards out of the living room then sprinted to the hallway before slamming the door of her room.

"Are... you okay, Hope?" Hope finally managed to close his mouth before bugs came in and pouted. He waited for someone to speak before trying to grin, instead forming a grimace.

"Sorry, kid. Light's a little... yeah."

They all managed to turn back to Vanille, who was smiling wildly, her eyes glistening with sparkles.

"Vanille! It's so amazing to see you!" Serah jumped over to Vanille, squealing and embracing her. Snow joined in and laughed loudly, crushing the petite girls below him. When he finally loosened his grip, the red head turned over to Hope.

"Hey, Hope. It's good to see you again," she said almost in a whisper. Hope smiled slightly and nodded. He wanted to talk to her, but there was this warm feeling inside him that was overtaking his mind.

"I – I need to tell you guys something. Can... can you get Lightning for me?" Vanille asked, staring at her boots.

Serah nodded, making her way down the hall.

Lightning shut the door and leaned her back against it.

_I am such a freaking idiot. Why in the hell would I kiss Hope? He's 14! What is wrong with me! Why did I now even realize Snow or Serah came in? Why didn't I realize that Vanille was still there? How did I not notice ANYTHING? And why do I still feel this way? _

Lightning overtook her mind with negative thoughts and she threw her schoolbooks around the room. She chucked one towards the window and cracked it. Once she felt satisfied, she finally sunk down on the carpet and hid her face in her hands.

"What. Is. Wrong with me?" she whispered, the sound muffled by her palms. She wiped the tears of anger out her eyes and looked around her room, the slowly beginning to darken and go down. She sat for what felt like no time at all before she heard a quiet knock at the door.

"Light? It's Serah. May I come in?" Lightning nodded, then realized that her sister couldn't see her.

"Yeah."

Serah opened the door carefully, walking over to Lightning.

"Vanille wants to talk to us. Do you want to come out?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because my life is over, Serah."

"What do you mean – Oh... Light, it's not that big of a deal. You love Hope, and-" Lightning tried desperately to avoid herself from jumping. She hoped Serah didn't notice the slight movement.

"And being like a mother to him you kissed him. No big deal. If I was in your position, I'd be snogging him, too!" Serah smiled and placed a hand on Lightning's back.

Lightning smirked slightly at the thought that everyone suspected she was a mother figure to him. _Just glad they don't think we're love ducks, or, whatever people call 'em. _

Lightning finally lifted herself off the ground again and made her way out into the living room, her sister following close behind.

Vanille greeted them all with a smile and they all sat awkwardly on the couch.

Lightning hesitantly grabbed Hope in her arms at sat down with them, waiting for the tense room to be talkative again.

"Uhm..." Vanille twiddled her thumbs and took a moment before saying her story.

"I need to tell you all something. I'm a seeress. You may have heard that in your dream that you all had, a – and it's true. So I may not be around that much longer, or I may be around much longer. I don't really know. So..." Everyone watched Vanille's eyes fill with tears.

"When I die again, I have no regrets. Trust me. But my advice is that we just continue on with our lives like normal until something happens... Okay?"

The students in the room glanced at each other and waited for something else to happen. NO one knew what to do with the situation given to them.

"Hey, Hope?" Snow turned to Hope, as well as everybody else. Hope nodded.

"I – I'm sorry I didn't believe you." Hope nodded again, and watched Vanille step over to him.

"Hold still," she whispered, placing her hand on his leg. The silverette awkwardly looked to the side to avoid her looks.

"This might sting a little, but you'll feel so much better after." Vanille closed her eyes and let a little glowing light travel from her hand to his leg.

Hope closed his eyes and groaned slightly and the stinging feeling growing inside him. He suddenly felt a sense of warmth and comfort, and his leg feeling stronger again before everything went dark again. But... dark in a nice way...

Lightning stood up when Hope collapsed on the floor, catching his fall and staring up at Vanille, horrified. Serah gasped and Snow stepped forward.

"What did you just do?" Vanille smiled slightly, shaking her head.

"Don't worry, I just healed his leg. I said we were going back to our normal lives, so I guess it would be okay if I healed him, no big deal. It was just a lot to heal, so he may be out for a couple of minutes."

Lightning sighed, crossing her arms.

"What time is it?"

"8:30 - ish." Lightning nodded, and turned toward the window nearest her.

"Does anybody know where Fang is?"

"No, I have no clue. I wonder if she's okay..."

"She was the one who said she's leaving last night, so whatever, I guess."

Snow awkwardly took Serah's arm and made her way out of the dorm room.

"I... guess I'll see you guys in class tomorrow?"

"Mmhmm."

"Okay... see you guys later."

As soon as Snow shut the door Lightning's eyes gravitated towards Vanille again.

"I forgot to say this..."

"What?" Vanille asked, her green orbs questioning.

"I'm sorry you're a seeress, it must... it must be tough, huh?"

"Not really. As long as we keep our future in order it shouldn't be a problem. Again, going on with our normal lives, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, it's gonna be hard. You know, with everything happening around here..."

"I guess..."

"Hey... does anyone else know about the whole fal'cie thing?" Vanille's eyes widened.

"Hell, yeah, Light! There were like 45 kids who became l'cie from a couple days ago. When I was in that place... I can't really explain it... I guess I could call it heaven! When I was there… I could see everything after the caves. My mind... it traveled back to the school. I saw tons of students collapsing, and the sky getting darker, and there was screaming... it wasn't really a pleasant sight."

"What exactly happened while we were gone in those caves?"

"Well, the teachers began to realize what was happening. Everyone started screaming and coming to all the classrooms to tell them what was going on. So all the teachers came out, and people were crying, while some looked weak, and... almost like zombies. They were just staring at their brands. Not the coolest sight, I guess. The headmaster gathered everyone in the giant room in the center of the school. You know, the one that Snow likes to play basketball at?

"Well, anyway, they started doing roll call, and they counted all the people who were missing. It was around 20 people, and a lot of that list was you guys. Someone said they saw Snow with Hope, and he was dead, and another person said Lightning almost killed them with her car. Yeah, I remember that… so, anyway, after that everyone just kind of went on with life. A lot of people are trying to ignore the fact that they're a l'cie, and trying to ignore their focus, which really does scare me."

"...Lightning?" Lightning's head immediately shot over to Hope when she heard is voice.

"Hey," she whispered, pushing his silver bangs out of his face. "How's your leg?"

Hope blinked a couple of times before he cocked his head to the side and looked down. After waiting a moment, he stood up on his uninjured leg. He went to step on the other and felt a strange tingling sensation before letting his leg give in. He felt Light grab onto his shoulder suddenly, and he straightened himself up.

"Wow... it doesn't hurt anymore. It doesn't hurt, anymore, Light!" Lightning smiled and watched his eyes droop suddenly.

"Hey... I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so... can I go?" Lightning and Vanille nodded simultaneously and watched Hope rub his eyes and slip down the hall.

The two girls left in the room met each other's eyes. Vanille was grinning wildly, her eyes sparkling.

"What...?" Lightning asked, raising her eyebrow. Vanille continued to smile brightly, then wrapped her arm around her.

"Hope is _so_ cute! It's ridiculous, really, that kid." Lightning let the awkward silence grow; she couldn't help but smirk at the thought of him.

"Awww, Claire... I think you like him – "

"Oerba Yun Fang, what the hell – "

"Just a little bit, Light! Just a little bit – "

"W – what do you mean I like H- Hope – "

"Psh... nevermind... But I think he likes you, too." Vanille chuckled to herself and walked towards the door.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, m'kay, Miss Farron?"

"Yeah, whatever..."

Vanille rolled her eyes playfully, and turned the doorknob to the door, tossing her room key up in the air and catching it.

"Vanille. Wait."

Vanille swooped her head back.

"Yup?"

"I'm... glad you're okay. I'm sorry I thought you were dead..."

"Haha! Don't mention it."

"Hope said that earlier."

"Well good for him."

Lightning waited until the door shut again like the many times before that day.

She made her way into Hope's room and made sure he was asleep and that the window lock was till on, just to be safe, and made her way back into the farthest corner of the room; she let tears of every emotion she had that day explode around her. Never in her life had she ever felt so full of emotion... for no reason at all.

"Hope c'mon. You have school. I really don't feel like being the mother here." Hope felt a thump on his head, and he rolled himself on the floor.

"You go to school, remember? To get an _education. _Geez..."

"I'm going, Light!" Hope yelled, then whispered to himself... "You don't have to be smartass..."

"I _heard that, Hope Estheim_!"

Hope eyes widened and he held back his laughter. He threw his uniform on, grabbed his bag and headed out towards the kitchen.

He went to get a slice of pizza from the refrigerator when he felt something thump against the back of his head.

"Ouch." He looked behind him and saw Lightning holding a pile of oranges, smirking at him.

"Don't you dare call me a smartass ever again, _sweetheart_."

Hope gaped at her, then grabbed the orange off the floor. Lightning practically grinned at him.

"I got moved up in a math class. I have it this morning."

"Really?" Hope peeled away at the orange, sitting on the kitchen counter with his legs crossed. Lightning always forgot how little he was, it was almost adorable.

"Yeah. Pre – calculus." Hope choked on his orange.

"But that's my – "

"Correct."

"Same time?"

"Same time, kid."

"Wow. On purpose?"

"No, actually. But yeah, that means my school day's gonna be longer, so, uh... yay for that. The headmaster said we need to get to class more, cause, you know, all that crap is over. For now, at least." Lightning rolled her eyes and let the oranges fall to the floor.

"Crap, look at the time." Lightning sprinted back to her room while Hope opened up the door. He saw Snow there, his hand clenched into a fist, as if he was just about to knock on the door.

"Woah, kid. You psychic?" Hope giggled and tried to push Snow out of the way into the hall.

"So how ya feeling?"

"Fine, actually. I have math, I'd better go..."

"Okay, bye. Nice talkin' to ya." Snow turned around and yelled when he suddenly saw Lightning standing in the doorway.

"Move, Snow." Snow immediately stepped back and let the pinkette through. She sprinted to the elevator with Hope and the door closed.

"So..." Lightning said, tapping her foot to the elevator music. Hope had a pouty impatient expression on his face. The silence was horrifying and hilarious at the same time, let alone the most awkward thing all together.

"You've got good skin for 14."

"W-What?"

"I'm saying, most kids who are 14 have pimples all over their faces."

"Uh. Huh..." Hope turned his back to Lightning.

"Have you ever heard of the music group Two Steps from – " Lightning sighed when the elevator door open and Hope ran out.

"Nevermind…"

Hope and Lightning came into the classroom came in time before the bell rang. She tried to ignore the stares of people. _Again? _Lightning stood in the corner of the room with Hope, becoming more infuriated with them when they started whispering.

"Listen. Try to ignore all the things people are saying. Someone thought you died during the fal'cie attack, so, you know, it's a little weird again, and also, we haven't really been going to school lately, so people probably want to know." Lightning finally noticed that Hope's green eyes weren't looking at her. They were completely focused on something else. When she heard a click, her body turned at the speed of light and headed towards the phone that took the picture. Hope watched with slight interest as Lightning took hold of the cell phone and stomped on it. The girl shrieked and bent down to grab the shattered phone.

"What the hell, Lightning?" Lightning smirked and turned away. She grabbed Hope's wrist and sat next to him.

"Sorry. That's what you get," she yelled mischievously at the girl still on her knees, her jaw dropped. A girl came over to her, and began whispering in her ear so no one could hear.

"Alyssa, trust me, that's what happens when you do something like that to Lightning."

"But she's being so nice to that little kid Hope, so I thought she may have changed a little bit."

"Well, of course she hasn't changed, Al. Trust me, I think Hope is Lightning's daughter. They have the same facial features. And hair..."

"No, no, no, Hope's is more silver and nice looking... hey, wait a minute. Hope's like, 14, right?"

"I thought he was 1O."

"14, Jessica. 14. That means Lightning would've been six or seven when she had him. I don't think that's possible."

"Well, it's Lightning, you never know, seriously. Anything is possible with that chick." They both giggled and immediately sat down next to each other when the bell rang, and continued whispering.

"Well, who did she do it with? Cause quite frankly, that guy must have some good genes. I mean, seriously, look how sweet that kid is! Compared to Light he's an angel. He just seems too innocent to be Light's daughter..."

"Well, maybe Light's performing a cover up personality."

"Yeah right."

"Sorry, I'm just thinking. That Hope's been through a lot, huh?"

"Hell yeah, ever since he got here he's been in a bad way. Do you remember a long time ago when Lightning got really sick? It was a lot like Hope, she was in a hospital, then she recovered as fast as she got it."

"Is Hope a l'cie?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I just want to know since Noel said that Hope looked completely dead in Snow's arms when they were running out of the school when Lightning came."

"Oh... well, we can ask him."

"What makes you think he's going to answer our –"

"Alyssa, Jessica, do you have something you want to tell us?" The two girls looked up at their teacher.

"Oh, haha, no! I just – we, um – well..."

"We need to talk to Hope. Family emergency."

The teacher didn't even have time to answer before both of the girls grabbed Hope's hand and dragged him out the door. Lightning almost stood up from her seat to deck the girls, but resisted with pain.

"Hi, Hope! I'm Alyssa. This is my friend Jessica." Hope stepped back a little, bumping into the wall behind him.

"Um..." Hope said in almost a whisper, embarrassed how high his voice sounded compared to the two girls. Jessica put her hand over her mouth quickly to try to hide her adoring smile.

"We don't mean to be rude, but we need to ask you some questions. So do you think that you could – "

"Is Lightning your mom?" Hope immediately shook his head, his face in complete fear and slight disgust.

"Is she your sister?" Hope shook his head again.

"Oh... why is she so nice to you?"

"Cause... she's a nice person?" Hope whispered, trying to step towards the door slightly.

"Where are your parents, then?" Hope gasped slightly, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. The girl waited and then one leaned in to whisper again so Hope couldn't hear.

"He's so adorable! I didn't expect him to be this shy!" Alyssa nodded, and looked back at Hope.

"You can stay with us in our dorm room if you'd like, then you won't have to worry about mean roommates!" Hope stepped again and saw the girls lean in towards him.

_Hope watched as the two woman stood in front of him, knives in their hands and his mom and dad's bodies on the ground._

"_You're next, darling. Prepare to die."_

_Hope sobbed uncontrollably on the ground, scooting back to get away from them before he met a wall. _

"_Please... no!" The two women laughed at him comment and leaned in closer. Hope gasped when he heard the door slam open and police officers run in. Hope took this moment to grab his suitcase by the window where he had left it, and sprinted out the back door, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. _

"Lightning!" Hope yelled, putting his arms up above his head. The door of the classroom immediately opened, and Lightning came out. Hope wiped the tears from his eyes and grinned slightly at Lightning. She punched one of the girls down and kicked the other one. They both looked at her than ran away as fast as they could.

Lightning turned to Hope, her aqua eyes filled with concern.

"You okay?" Hope sniffled, nodding his head.

"I overreacted Light. I'm sorry."

"Call me Claire, okay?" Hope's eyes shimmered slightly.

"I'll just tell the teacher they ditched. I won't technically be lying." Hope smiled.

"Okay L – Claire." He giggled and walked back in the classroom with her.

Hope sat on the dorm room floor and let a whole slice of pizza hang out of his mouth as if it was a hand as he tried to open a soda. Snow laughed at him and opened it with ease, letting the teen pout at him.  
"So you... attacked Alyssa and Jessica?" Lightning simply shrugged, and pulled a pepperoni off the pizza and sat it on her tongue.

"Those girls are such bitches," Snow mumbled, setting an entire box of pizza on his lap and opening it. "They deserve to get the crap beaten outta them. Always getting into people's business. Quite frankly, they scare me a little. No doubt they would scare little Hope." Serah shot a glare at him and sprawled on the couch, peeling one of the oranges she found laying on the floor.

"What other classes do you have today, Light?" Serah asked.

"Science with Hope, History with that blonde freak over there-"

"Hey!"

"Then... that's it, I think. Since I don't have cram school today."

Hope wiped his hands on the sides of his pants and picked himself off the floor and grabbed his bag, pulling out his math book and a notebook and doing problems so he wouldn't have to do it later.

"So..." Snow asked, grinning mischievously and swaying on his feet. "I was thinking we could go to a party tonight." Hope looked up, curiosity growing in him. Snow chuckled.

"Not you, kid, there'll be drinking. And I don't want to get yelled at by Light if you pass out for drinking under age."

"You got that right," Lightning said, moving to the couch towards Serah. Hope sighed dramatically, thumping his head down in his book.

"Can I go?" Vanille asked, jumping up and down and squeaking when she dropped her pizza.

"Yeah," Snow exclaimed, "Light can go, Vanille can go, I'm thinking of bringing Noel and Isabelle, and Serah can stay with Hope. It'll be fun. It's a small party, so we won't have to worry about partying crazy and coming home to Hope and Serah all messed up."

"Sounds like fun! Hope, would you mind if I babysit ya?" Serah asked playfully, rolling off the couch to get a pizza from Snow's box. Hope shook his head, feverishly writing down math problems.

"What'cha want to do?" Serah asked, watching Hope look out the window. Hope thought for a moment before shrugging and slumping on the couch next to her.

"Can we watch a movie?"

"Sure!" Serah got up immediately to break the odd silence and shuffled through Lightning's cabinet of DVDs.

"Claire said she has some on the dishwasher. It's broken. We don't use it, so we just use it to put stuff in. I keep my homework in there." Serah giggled before suddenly coming to a halt.

"...Claire?"

"Yeah, she told me to call her that. Is that her real name?"

"Yeah..."

"I like it." Serah turned around and looked at Hope in awe.

"No one's ever been allowed to call her that except for me... and she gets annoyed when I do. She must really trust you, Hope." Hope grinned at Serah's watery eyes and repositioned himself on the couch to look out the window.

"You're really something special, Hope Estheim."

_Hehehe I'm done with this chapter! Did you see my little cameo appearance, guys? I know some of you know my first name, but yeah, apparently I'm going to the party with the gang XD Isabelle ftw! And a Two Steps from Hell tribute! Look at that, we're all college kids again! The reason there was so much stuff the chapters before is because I needed to put that there for later events in the story! But yeah! I'm feeling a bit romantic! Heh. Anyway, I have a question for all of you. Write in a review or a personal message if you chew ice or not if you see this XD I want to know! I'm a massive ice chewer myself and it's so bad for your teeth, is the sad thing. But I'm addicted to them like cigarettes or something lol. Well, new chapter will be up tomorrow or the next day. Happy summer! Ugh, I just remembered I need to clean my closet. I'm sorry I said nodded so much. But people nod a lot and there's no synonym for it. Lol. Merci 3 review plz so I know you're there!_


	14. Happy Birthday, Lightning

_Two important things. But first, I have to say I'm so sorry it's been 12 days. I get distracted with things like makeup, and Bohemian Rhapsody :] I've been out, I've been lazy, I've been procrastinating, but I love writing this, it's just hard to kinda get started before I set off after about 5 minutes. :) Oh my god there's a bug in my room. It's on my computer screen. Ope, now it's gone. I never really liked bugs except for this cockroach I used to have, and it freaked me out whenever I had to feed it. OK. I have to tell you guys something so awesome. Two things, actually. I'll start with the more boring one. So, I was watching Phineas and Ferb (I know, I'm 15 and I watch PnF, don't judge me lol) and I was watching this incredibly awesome episode about how they all are in this story, and there's like a ton of Lord of the Rings references (Baljeet was dressed as Legolas and Buford was like Aragorn lol) and guess what. You guys will not believe it. They altered the names of the characters, and they made Isabella's name changed to Isabelle. Oh my gosh. My mom heard Phineas all like, "So, Isabelle…" And she was like "Did they just say Isabelle?" Yeah, freakin awesome. _

_Second thing. I was supposed to go to Disneyland right when I got pneumonia, and now that I'm better, I can go! So me and my family all drove like 45 minutes to get there, so I decided that I was totally gonna go all out on it. I went on California Screamin and Tower of Terror. Oh yeah, I'm kinda sick right now cause a lot of times when you get pneumonia, you can have some sort of sickness just as a normal recovery kinda thing, and that's what I have right now. ANYWAY, I have been movie obsessed. Lord of the Rings extended edition is almost 4 hrs 40 min. Phew. It never ended but it's SO GOOD. Ok, let's write this baby! I'm putting a quote from AATB in here :) _

_Oh, by the way I got so many reviews the last time I uploaded my last chapter. A lot more than I usually do. Pretty cool, huh? It was all perfect and 50 reviews and then it turned to 51. Love/hate situation. I have 30000 hits as well, and I am going to start spazzing out if I keep talking about it. _

_I really love you guys ;)_

"How about this? Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, intelligent. Actually, who are you not to be? We are born to make manifests, and the glory of God that is within us, and as our own light shines, we unconsciously give other people a mission to do the same."

"Hope... sniff... that was beautiful…"

"Oh, I didn't right that. Some professor did. I'm thinking of cheating and using it in my English essay."

"Hope, you probably can think of something more original than that. You don't want to sound too much like some old professor."

"Serah, I'm tired. I'm bored. I don't want to take English anymore, okay? I don't know what to write."

"What's your topic supposed to be?"

"It has to be a life experience, something that had an affect on your life and permanently changed it." Serah laughed out loud at Hope, tossing one of the oranges on the ground in the air and turning off the TV.

"Hope. That's like, the best topic ever! Write about your experience when you died, write about your experience when you died _again!_ Or how you're going to college with a ton of old people!"

"Psh, I know, I just, I don't know…"

"You could write about your parents?" Hope immediately looked up at her, horrified.

"No."

"I know, it's kinda hard, but you could let it out! My parents are dead, you know. They were police officers, and… they lost a battle during a burglary when I was five. Your parents died in a car crash and-"

"They didn't die in a car crash."

"But you told me…"

"It's called lying." Serah was taken aback for a moment. She really never imagined Hope to lie, to be honest, but what was really bugging her was why he was keeping their real reason for their deaths a secret.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why would I want to talk about it if I don't want to write about it?"

"Ok, ok, I get it... I just wanted to know why… Snow said he's heard you cry at night," she saw Hope stiffen, still not looking up from his laptop.

"And… we could help you get over it if you'd be willing to tell us. I know how you feel…"

"Serah, it's ok, really. I… never really want to talk about it. And I don't think I ever will want to talk about it."

"Why not? You can-"

"For the love of Etro, Serah, can you please shut up! I said I don't want to talk about it right now…" Serah tensed up and breathed shakily as she saw a tear drip from Hope's face.

"Wait!" Serah cried when Hope got up and started making his way down the hallway. She flung her arms around him, feeling guilty when he didn't hug back.

"I'm sorry, Hope… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just… I don't know…"

"Sniff… Serah, it's all right. Do you really want to know?" Serah nodded.

"They were murdered. My dad was part of a big business and… some other company didn't like what he was doing. And, they came to our house…"

"And…"

"They killed my mom, then my dad, and then they went to kill me before the police finally came, and so I grabbed my suitcase and ran away, to here."

"Hope…"

"Uh huh?"

"Why did you have a suitcase ready?" She heard Hope's heart starting to race.

"I was going to run away anyway."

"What? Why?"

"I had already got into the school without my parents knowing and I was going to run away… and now everyone in my city thinks we're all dead…" she saw Hope quickly swipe his hand up under his eye.

"But if they think you're dead… wouldn't it have been on the news or something?"

"It was, and it was in last month's newspaper. I had to run and grab every single one in the school one morning so people didn't know. Cause it said that I was dead and they couldn't find the body… and my parents were dead, too. So, sniff, I can't go back there… ever."

"Hope… you didn't have to hide yourself from the city, why does anyone care if you're dead? Don't people want you to be alive? Think of all the people who knew you back there-"

"I've never really had any friends…"

"That's not really my point, I'm saying why do you care if people think you're alive?"

"Because they'd take me away."

"What do you mean?"

"They'd take me away Serah! I'd be put up for adoption, and… my life would be different… and I don't want to…" Serah wrapped her arms around Hope tighter and put his head in her shoulder.

"It's all too much Serah! Hic – why is life so hard? Why…" Serah closed her eyes to prevent tears from falling, and didn't start again until Hope's sobbing quieted.

"Well, you don't have to write about that if you don't want to… I get that it's not the happiest subject…" Hope giggled slightly and finally pulled his arms around Serah.

"Don't tell anyone about this, okay? I don't really want anyone to know."

"Trust me, I won't," Serah said, smiling softly and kissing Hope on his forehead.

"TURN IT UP! I LOVE THIS SONG!" Snow screamed, his friend Isabelle laughing and turning up the radio. Vanille screamed yanked open a bottle of champagne, letting it explode all over kitchen floor.

"Eeek! It exploded!"

"Really? I didn't notice!" Lightning yelled sarcastically, pouring some in a glass and swallowing it in one gulp, pulling her hand out for more.

"I thought you said this was going to be a small party?" Lightning yelled, picking up the entire bottle of champagne and drinking it from there instead.

"This is a small party!" Isabelle screamed, motioning to groups of people, at least 60, all running and dancing throughout the dorm room.

Lightning ran over to Snow, who was leaning against a wall, talking to his friends.

"How long have we been here?"

"Almost 4 hours now!"

"That's it? Well, we should stay LONGER!"

"Lightning, I think you've had a little too much to drink. I'd suggest you stop now…" Snow said grinning, yanking the two bottles out of her hand, leaving Lightning with a childish pout on her face.

A girl ran up to Snow, yanking him by his shirt and shoving her lips against his, making his eyes widen and drop the bottles, letting them crash on the floor. Lightning yelled out and yanked her from Snow's shocked face, snapping out of her drunken state.

"WOAH. Rikku, I think you've had enough of certain beverages." Light yelled over the music, yanking her by her shoulder to the other side of the room. Vanille skipped over to Snow, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Cocoon to Snow? Hellooo?"

"I feel like I'm gonna barf."

"Calm down, Snow, you didn't kiss back. You know she gets at parties!" Vanille said, laughing, putting her arm around his shoulder.

"Come one, big guy, let's find Light and get back to the dorm room." Snow nodded and ran around the room.

"Light!" Vanille called, wandering around the dorm.

"Oh! There you are! We're gonna go back now, are you ready?" Snow said, Lightning nodding to him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Mmhhhmmm…" Lightning said, pushing in front of him and making her way towards the door, the two following behind them. They opened the door and met Fang on the other side.

"Fang?"

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't go to a party?" Lightning waited a second before stepping around her and making her way towards the elevator.

"What are all these oranges doing here anyway?" Serah asked. Hope smiled, sniffling and picking one of them up, a couple still lying around on the floor.

"We got them from the cafeteria downstairs. Lightning was throwing them at me this morning. Or, yesterday, technically. What time is it?"

"Almost 3:00… you sure you're okay?" Serah asked, noticing a tear falling from Hope's eye every once in a while.

"Yeah… I'm okay. Are you okay?" Hope asked, tilting his head.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you always seem so quiet and sad all the time, so… know, I kinda feel the urge to ask." Serah sighed, finally getting off the floor and pulling Hope up, both of them moving over to the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a lot of crazy stuff has happened super fast, and… you know, it's been pretty crazy, you know? But it's pretty much all over now, right?"

Hope nodded, quickly swiping another tear that fell uncontrollably from his eye.

"Who knows what happens next," Serah added, pulling herself up and grabbing her phone. She sat back down and began to flip through contacts.

"Maybe I should text Snow, ask him when they're gonna come back…"

The two of them jumped from their relaxed state and looked up, Serah smiling slightly.

"Hey guys, we're back! And not too drunk either! We left when the party started to get a little out of hand," Vanille said, running to their refrigerator. Serah ran up to Snow and wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey babe. Did Hope treat you all right?" she nodded, holding her boyfriend closer.

Lightning looked at Hope, who remained quiet. She saw him smile at her, but tried to ignore how puffy his eyes were.

"Hey," she mouthed. Hope raised his hand slightly and waved at her. Lightning casually walked over to Hope and sat down on the couch next to him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, ignoring all the loud conversation around her.

"Yeah, why?" Lightning wiped a tear that slipped past his eye and he looked at her embarrassed, wiping away anything that may have been left.

"It's ok, you can keep it to yourself," she whispered, quickly pulling her arms around him and letting go before anyone noticed.

"What day is it today?"

"Friday."

"Really, I thought it was Saturday…"

"Aw, well, that kinda sucks. Go, get ready for school before you're late."

Hope dragged his way back to his room, shutting the door and leaning his back against it. He sighed and hid his face in his hands. What was he going to do… he didn't even know what do get her! It was Lightning's birthday, what should he get the girl who has done so much for him in such a short amount of time?

"I could just ask her," Hope whispered aloud, standing up and staring at the doorknob. He stalled by putting on his uniform and slowly getting his books ready, and finally managed to get himself out of his room.

He walked out and was face to face with Lightning, who had just stepped out of her room across from him.

"Uh…" Hope stared in shock for a moment. _Just ask her, all you have to do is ask. _

Lightning smiled slightly in the corner of her mouth and began to walk around Hope towards the door.

"Do you wanna come with me or do you need more time?"

"Oh… you don't need to wait for me."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Oh… I…"

"You coming or not? I'm gonna be late." Hope stiffened slightly at the stress in her voice.

Lightning noticed how flushed Hope's face looked and how he was shaking slightly. She stepped over to him and put her hand on his forehead.

"Are you getting sick again? You feel hot…" Lightning mumbled, awkwardly dropping her backpack and kneeling down his level.

"You look like you're gonna throw up, are you all right? Hope, why aren't you answering me?" Lightning's expression became more worried as Hope just stared at her, his mouth slightly open.

"Uhm," Hope whispered, sitting down on the carpet. Lightning did the same after, still not taking her concerned eyes off of him. Why does his face get so red whenever he's near Lightning? What's making him have such and awkward feeling? It makes his eyes all hazy and his heart beat faster, his breathing increase and his cheeks get all red.

He had to think of something to say, since he had no clue what this weird emotion he was feeling was.

"I – I think I'm just tired. Go to class. I'll… meet you back here at noon and then I'll go to class with you." Hope smiled weakly, not out of sickness, but pure embarrassment. Lightning nodded hesitantly before slowly standing up and making her way out the door.

"Lightning! WAIT!" Hope cried, causing Lightning to immediately stop and turn around, closing the door behind her.

"What?" she asked worryingly.

"Happy birthday." Lightning nodded, preventing herself from smiling to big at his innocent expression. He looked almost scared to tell her that.

"You sure you're gonna be all right here until I come back?"

"Of course… I, I don't want to be a burden or anything…"

"Ok… and thanks you. You're the first one to say happy birthday to me today." Lightning turned around, trying to make Hope not see her little grin as she made her way out the door, Hope not saying a word.

"So, if you add these to integers and square it, you're going to end up with a new integer to work with, which is the one you're going to add to your formula…"

Lightning lied on her desk with one cheek pressed against the wood and her eyes planted towards the teacher. Her mind was completely ignoring the words her teacher was saying and proceeded to think about things she didn't ever imagine she would think about. She imagined going out somewhere for one on her birthday, talking to people and thanking them for wishing her a happy birthday. She imagined going with Hope, Snow, Hope Serah, Vanille, and Hope to go get ice cream and go laser tagging. Did she mention she wanted to take Hope with her? She couldn't remember.

She wanted to go to an amusement park, and go on roller coasters, and see how terrified Hope's expression was. Or would he terrified? There was only one way to find out. Maybe she would just stay at home like she always does, and forget about her birthday-

"-Hope?"

"I wasn't saying anything!" Lightning cried out when she heard Hope's name, snapping out of her thoughts, letting them crumble on the floor. She watched in slight anger at all the people staring at her around the classroom.

"No, Lighting, I mean have you seen Hope? Why isn't he at class this morning?"

"How should I know?" Lightning yelled out nervously, wanting to jump out the window and fall three stories and die. _Why the hell am I freaking out? _

"You're his room mate…" One girl said out of the corner of the class, scooting her chair back slightly when she received a death glare from Light.

"He wst fling wl…" Lightning mumbled to the ground.

"What?"

"He-wasn't-feeling-well-so-I-made-him-stay-at-the-dorm-room." Lightning shot out, letting everyone stare at her strangely for what felt like years before the bell suddenly rang. The entire room looked at the clock, and when they looked back at Lightning, she was gone.

Lightning flung herself into the bathroom and closed the main door, locking it so no one could come in. She sprinted into a stall, locking the door and sliding to the ground and banged her fists against the wall, crying out in anger.

"Why do I keep feeling so STUPID?" Lightning screamed, running out of the stall and kicking the stall door behind her.

"People are gonna think I'm CRAZY!" Lightning screamed again and threw her backpack to the other side of the room, letting it skid until it hit the wall.

"Or am I crazy?" She whispered, falling to the tile beneath her and wiping away a random tear she never expected to cry.

Her stomach jolted slightly, and Lightning wrapped her arms around herself to prevent herself from vomiting. The nauseous feeling died away and turned to butterflies, causing Lightning to feel more self conscious. She didn't know why in such a situation like this, where she overreacted and locked herself in a bathroom, she would call Hope. Why she wanted to talk to him she didn't know. She figured Hope would be there for her…

"Shut up." Lightning said out loud, her voice coming out monotone but shaky. Her voice echoed off the walls and vibrated back into her heart, silencing herself once again. She waited a couple moments and heard nobody outside, then finally realized something that she dare not say aloud.

The answer to everything that was happening to her.

No.

"I'm not in love with Hope. I'm not in love with Hope. I'm not in love with Hope." Lightning chanted to herself, rocking back and forth on the bathroom floor.

"I'm lot in love with Hope. I just met him a month ago. He's only 14. He's not even attractive. He's not even nice. He's - he's stupid. I'm not in love with Hope. I said I wasn't going to date anyone. Ever. I'm not in love with Hope. I'm not in love with Hope." Lightning lied to herself, suddenly stopping when she heard giggling outside the door. She heard it coming closer; she froze and wished she had a gun with her. Not so she could shoot the girls.

So she could shoot herself.

"Hey. The door's locked!" A girl echoed from outside the building.

"Is someone in there?" Another voice rang from behind the locked door. Lightning fearfully raised her voice a couple of octaves higher and look in a shaky breath.

"Oh, I'm just cleaning the bathroom. I'll be out in a couple of minutes." Lightning waited anxiously for a response, finding relief in the girls' answers.

"Ok! We'll go to the bathroom across the way!" She heard the clanking of their heels fade away. Lightning unlocked the door immediately after, then ran towards the window, climbing out of it without difficulty and trying to casually go to her next class.

Hope sat at his desk, leaning on his left elbow and staring at his laptop screen. He finally waited for what felt like an hour, maybe it was an hour, until he finally clicked on the search bar. He put his hands on the keyboard and looked around as if he was being watched.

_Lightning Farron _

The search bar came up with more than he expected it would be. He looked at her bio and read through it. Apparently she was in the Guardian Corps from when she was 16 until she was 20, and that's when she quit and went to college, being one of the first girls to go to the college without attending a prestigious high school. She had one of the highest grades last year, and this year she seems to slack more. She was going to get engaged to a guy then one day he mysteriously disappeared. She collects throwing knives and golden necklaces, and one day wants to travel the world. The rest of her life is completely private, and she says she wants to keep it that way.

"Ok," Hope said to himself, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms.

"I can buy her a throwing knife, or a necklace." He exclaimed, giggling to himself.

He looked up at the clock nearest him and counted out the time.

_I've still got four hours. _

He climbed into his closet and pulled out a tiny cardboard box. He smiled slightly and pulled out the entire lot of Gil he had and stepped out of the dorm.

"I need a knife."

"What?"

"You said you sell throwing knives here, and, I would like to buy one." Hope smiled politely and threw a mountain of Gil on the counter.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but you need a permit-" The saleswoman looked slightly concerned when he put down a permit. It was Lightning's permit, but it was a permit. No one would know the difference. She gave it back to him and reluctantly showed him to the row of knives. Hope had looked at all the knives Lightning owned and noticed one that she didn't have. He picked it up and looked up at the woman, who still looked slightly terrified.

"It's a gift for a friend in the Guardian Corps, not me," Hope finally put out there, causing the woman to slightly look less tense.

"Oh, well, ok. Here you go honey. Thank you." Hope nodded and took his leftover Gil and the knife and left the store, ignoring the little butterflies in his stomach.

Lightning ran out of her next class, realized someone whispered her name.

"She seems different now." Lightning kept her eyes on her locker, trying to listen in.

"Yeah, she seems nicer."  
"Maybe it's Hope."

"What?"  
"Ever since that little boy with the silver hair came, she's been nicer. Not necessarily to me, but just her personality in general if you don't set her off, I mean."

"Well, I think that the kid is really cute, and she was in the hospital with him when he got sick, so maybe she's kinda like his mom!"

"I guess so." Lightning didn't want to hear anymore. She was just glad people didn't expect them as lovers. She slammed her locker causing them to jump next to her.

"Oh, hi Lightning! We weren't talking about you!" The other girl hit her when she said that, and Lightning just tried to smile slightly and walk around them. She really didn't feel like fighting at the moment. She wanted to go check on Hope anyway.

Hope stuck the knife in the crevice of the couch and he sat next to it, turning on the TV and trying not to be nervous. Why was he nervous? He still didn't know. He just wanted to make sure Lightning would like it.

He wanted to thank her for everything he did for him.

She was the one who paid for his hospital bill, she was the one who let him stay in the dorm room, she was the one who helped him with math homework, she was the one who bought him food; she was the one who did everything for him.

And he thought he would never be able to repay it.

"Hope? I'm back," Lightning said, looking around for him. She jumped when he immediately stood up when she came, his mouth slightly open as if he was about to speak. He didn't really look that sick anymore, which was a good thing for her.

"Happy birthday."

"You already said that."

"Oh, I know, I thought it would be good introduction when people get birthday presents, but-"

"You got me a birthday present?" Lightning asked quietly.

Hope's heart filled with elation when her eyes softened. She actually looked somewhat pleasant to be around at the moment. Hope nodded; Lightning put her hand in front her mouth, pretending to bite her nails when she smiled at his sparkling eyes.

Hope pulled something out of the couch. It was in a plastic shopping bag.

"It looks so festive." Lightning said sarcastically, taking it from Hope playfully, watching him laugh at her comment.

She pulled it out of the bag and Hope felt more butterflies explode in his stomach when he heard Light's sharp intake of breath.

"Hope."  
"Do – do you like it?"

"It's beautiful." She whispered, holding the knife up to the light and watching it reflect off the sun from the window.

"I- I wanted to thank you for everything you do for me. Cause, you're really nice to me, and… I'm sorry I thought you were mean when I first met you. I really like you a lot."

Lightning walked over to Hope and kneeled down to him, wrapping his arms around him, taking in a deep breath to prevent her tears.

"Thanks, kid. There's something I've needed to tell you about, too." Hope pulled back, a curious expression on his face.

"I – I've been thinking what would be best for you, and… I was wondering…"

She knew she would have to keep talking; she saw Hope getting nervous.

"Would you like it if I adopted you?"

_I had a heck of a time writing this! I mean, this chapter probably sucked, but, that's ok, because I loved writing it! Hehe, I REALLY have to go now cause I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and I need to pack for vacation. Badly. SO, I will see you guys soon and I will message you all. I hope you like the chapter, and I will see you all soon! I really tried hard on this one, but I may not be 100% happy with it, but oh well! I love you guys! :D _

_3 Always, TWS_


	15. Chapter 15

I think many writer's out there know that when someone's depressed, they can either beat the crap out of their mind by writing up a storm, or they have such an immense writers block that they can't even spell beautiful. I'm sort of in between both. I want to write, just not my story. I – I don't know how to put this. :) Don't worry, I'm still writing my story, I'll definitely update, but I'll need like 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks. I'm going through a really hard time right now and I just really need to just sit and play my violin and piano and dance, and forget all the stupid stress of stupid Earth, and maybe, I'll write the story and update sooner than you expected, but I just wanted to let you know, if I'm missing for a little bit that's why.

So just give me a little bit, okay? Family tragedy that I don't want to talk about or else I'll start crying and I hate it. I love you all so much.

* * *

Just to let you know, yes I did change the story title to Mon espoir, mon amour. It's French, cause I speak fluent French if you didn't know. :) I got VERY bored one summer last year. Female Genders was never the orignial name, I just chose a random name, and I needed time to think about a good name, aso I chose my second language for My Hope, My Love. But. I'll see you guys soon, okay ? *Blows a kiss*. See you soon.


	16. Je suis perdu

**Hi everyone! I'm awesome, thanks for asking! XD Anyway, I'm actually not insanely that cheerful, but I'm listening to Justin Bieber's All Around the World ( I only like his new songs ) and it's getting me all hyper. :D So it's good to be back with a new chapter! And it's good to see everyone again! I hope you're okay with this chapter, a LOT of stuff happens... even though it's only, like 4,000 words. Enjoy! **

* * *

"I… I was wondering if you wanted me to adopt you."

Lightning's heart began to beat as she stared into Hope's emerald orbs, waiting for a reply.

Hope looks so shocked he could have had an aneurism. He sat up slowly and then ran to his room.

"H-Hope. Wait!" Lightning ran over the teenager's door, sitting impatiently for him to come out.

Hope slammed the door and ignored Lightning's calls for him. A smile grew on his face as he jumped up onto his bed.

_Lightning could adopt me_, he thought. _Lightning… wants to adopt me!_

Hope took a minute to process everything. His heart felt so touched, but he was also horrified. The kid was still trying to get over the fact that he was an orphan, let alone people who were so dear to him were dead. The thought of him having an entire new family with knew aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins… and maybe, even a new _dad._

Hope stood up from his head slowly and tried to walk in the quietest, snail – like speed he could to stall his soon to be conversation.

Lightning jumped in her head when she saw the door creak open. She smiled slightly at the sight of Hope's head peeking through the door, his eyes sparkling and fear engulfed on his adorable face. Lightning felt like it was hours before he finally spoke, still not fully opening the door.

"If… I really had to choose another mom to be with besides my old one…" Hope trembled. Lightning knew the answer was not going to be the one she was hoping for.

"It would be you."

Lightning sat up slightly, looking at Hope's face lighten a bit.

"R – really?" Hope nodded, opening the door all the way.

Lightning couldn't hold it anymore. She threw her arms around his and lifted him off the ground, forgetting what kind of serious person she was supposed to be.

"Hope?"

"Uh huh?"

"I promise I'll keep you safe."

"Hurgh."

"What?"

"L-Light. Your. Kinda suffocating me." Lightning released her death grip and let Hope stumble back up to his feet. Why did she just hug him? Do parents hug their own kids?

"I… um… I'm gonna go over to Serah and Snow's room for a minute, kay?"

"O – okay… Mom?" Lightning cringed slightly.

"Wow… I am…" Lightning whispered. She turned back slightly to look at Hope.

His eyes were watering.

* * *

Lightning sprinted over towards her sister's dorm, banging on the door fast and nervously. Serah opened the door quickly after.

"Lightning! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Is it good or bad?"

"I don't know yet. Just let me in."

"Serah gestured her arms to the living room, and they both sat on the couch. Lightning sat for a minute nervously fiddling with her uniform skirt and breathing heavily.

Snow walked out of the hallway and made his way over to the living room.

"Oh, hey, Light! What are you doing here in this fine evening?"

"Snow, this is serious." Snow's face immediately changed from playful to concerned. He sat nervously on the couch next to Serah.

"I have a son now."

Serah gasped dramatically and Snow nearly fell on the chair.

"Who did you do it with?" Serah cried, running over to Lightning and sitting next to her.

"Nobody."

"But-"

"Serah, I've never had sex, okay?"

"But… you're getting a son."

"Adopted."

"W-wha?"

"I know."

"Why would you be adopting a baby right now?" We're just about to go on summer break, why would you want to waste money AND your whole vacation?"

"I don't have a choice. And he's not a baby."

Serah and Lightning looked over abruptly at Snow, who had both of his hands clasped over his mouth; he was almost laughing.

"No way, Claire. No. Freaking. Way."

Lightning was practically shocked Snow, of all people, got it before Serah. Maybe college was actually doing something productive with him.

Lightning smirked guiltily and looked back at Serah, who seemed to be in deep thought. She suddenly shrieked and looked at Lightning.

"You're getting a puppy?"

"SERAH. How can you be so stupid? I'm adopting Hope, for God's sake!" Serah stared blankly at her sister for a second, then shrieked again and face palmed herself.

"Oh my gosh, Claire, I – I'm such an idiot. You're adopting Hope, oh my god!" Her expression suddenly turned a bit concerned.

"You do know, you have a child now, right? You know, one you have to raise him, and feed him and buy stuff, and, you know, deal with crap in general?"

"Tch, yeah, when his girlfriend breaks up with him and he has to come crying to you about it in a couple of years, don't come crying to me, either," Snow said, running up to Lightning and putting her arm around her; she then immediately pushed it back.

"How long have you been thinking about doing this?" Serah asked, twirling her hair with her fingers.

"About 3 hours."

"Huh?"

"Well, graduation's in a week, and, he has nowhere to go."

Serah smiled and wrapped her arms around her sister proudly.

"See, Claire? You have a nice side to ya!" Lightning pulled away and looked scared for the first time in a while in front of people.

"I shouldn't have done this."

"We can help!" Serah cried, smiling brightly.

"Remember, me and Snow plan on getting married this summer anyway! We need to start getting used to having kids in the house anyway." Serah giggled and looked at Snow, who looked a little horrified at the thought of having a productive life.

"Holy crap, I have a kid." Lightning repeated, slumping back down on the couch and putting her hands in her face.

"You okay?" Snow asked, walking over to the couch. Lightning nodded, jumping when her phone vibrated.

"It's Hope. He texted me saying he'll be at Vanille's for homework. He's probably trying to avoid me," the pinkette groaned, setting her phone down and sinking back down on the couch. Serah shook her head, making her way over to Lightning and turning on the TV.

Hope knocked frantically on Vanille's dorm room door, jumping up and down slightly to prevent him from yelling.

* * *

Vanille opened the door with a smile on her face, then it lowered into a look of concern.

"Hope! Are you okay?" Hope nodded and pushed Vanille slightly into her dorm room, causing Vanille to yelp and close the door behind her.

"What?" she whispered, staring into Hope's green eyes.

"I have a mom now."

"OMG, really? Who is she? Is she nice?"

"Y – yeah, you know her." Vanille was smiling again, but looked a bit reluctant to speak.

"…Serah?"

"Nope. Lightning." Vanille shrieked, shoving her hands over her mouth when she did so.

"Wow…" Vanille said faintly, falling on the couch. She shoved her books off the seat next to her and patted for Hope to sit down.

"I would never expect she would do something like this," Hope cried.

"I mean, I just have never… I can't really process it."

"Why?"

"Can you keep a secret, Vanille?"

"My lips are sealed, honey! I have lots of secrets."

"Well... I think I had a little crush on Lightning, and now she's my _mom_…" Hope confessed; Vanille giggled, and wrapped her arms tightly around Hope.

"Well, Hope, I guess that means you don't really have to worry about liking her anymore. You'll get over it. And to be honest, I think one of the reasons Light adopted you is because she kinda likes you, too. And if you're his kid, then she'll have nothing to worry about, and she'll be too busy taking care of you to like you!" Vanille rambled, standing up from her seat.

"You'll be fine." She said ruffling his hair, Hope smiled slightly and his eyes watered slightly, causing Vanille to lean in a little more towards him.

"It's still kinda crazy to think my parents are gone, so it'll be crazy having _Lightning_…" Hope realized he kept repeating himself, but he took a moment to breathe and stood up, hugging Vanille quickly and walking towards the front door.

"Leaving already?" Vanille asked, picking up one of her school books. Hope nodded, and waved goodbye; without another word, he walked over to the elevator to go to Serah and Snow's dorm.

* * *

"Okay, Hope, sweetheart, I need you to sign right here and right there at the bottom, too."

Hope looked at Lightning, whose expression was rather serious and collected, but he could see her hands were shaking.

Hope anxiously signed the papers and looked back up at the women who gave it to him. Her soft brown eyes smiled at him and then at Lightning.

"Well that's it then, Hope is officially your child." Lightning breathed in sharply, and then rearranged her self in her chair to calm herself down.

"We need to talk living arrangements. Are you going to have a house you can live in after you leave your dorm room tonight?"  
"Yeah, I'm staying with my sister and her boyfriend until I can get an apartment."

"Okay, also, I was wondering if you have a job currently?"

"I, um… I was working with the Guardian Corps, but I had to leave due to a… family… emergency, and I haven't been back since. But I'll be probably joining them again this summer."

"Will you have someone to watch Hope while you're at work? Because he's still under 16-"

"Like I said, he'll by with my sister and her boyfriend while I'm gone."

"Okay, you don't have to get forceful, it's just by law we have to ask." Lightning started shaking her right leg, waiting impatiently for the meeting to end.

"All right, Claire," Lightning cringed, "I think that's it! You're officially a parent." Hope smiled slightly, and looked at Lightning, who was already starting to stand up from her seat in the office. Hope followed along with her and stood up as well, messing around with the scarf around his wrist and darting his pupils throughout the room. He jumped when he felt Lightning's hand take hold of his wrist, as they both made their way out of the court room.

* * *

"Okay, Hope! That's your room right there, and the kitchen's right there, and the bathroom the one right across from Lightning's bedroom, and… I think that's it!" Hope nodded and dragged his duffel bag to his room, still in shock at his whole new world he was thrown into.

Serah smiled and clapped her hand silently to herself. She felt like a parent! Being able to raise a child and be with the love of her life and her sister, it was too god to be true! Everything was perfect. Everything was just how she wanted it to be.

"Hey babe, what'cha thinking about?" Serah jumped at the feeling of strong arms wrapping around her waist, then looked up at the sight of Snow above her.

"Oh, hi Snow," Serah said, turning to face him.

"This is crazy, you know."

"Hmmm?"

"It's crazy that I'm living with you and your sister, and the fact that I have to take care of a kid now, makes me feel like a husband, right?"

"I guess so!" Serah giggled, leaning in to peck his lips. Snow looked at her with cerulean eyes. She wondered why he looked so nervous.

"S – Serah…"

"Yes?"

"I know things are crazy right now, b – but… I feel like it would be better if I did this now. Serah Farron, will you marry me?"

Serah shrieked, her eyes instantly filling up with tears. With one hand clasped over her mouth, she felt a ring being placed on her finger, and lips making in contact with her. Serah threw her arms around his neck and felt his hands wipe her tears away. His hands moved down to-

"No visuals please, we have children in the house." Serah shot out of her trance and looked at the hallway where the voice was coming from. Lightning stood their crossing her arms and looking proudly at Serah, while Hope giggled awkwardly, peeking behind her.

"Thank you," Light said playfully, walking toward Serah, who threw her arms around her. Lightning reluctantly put one arm around Snow, causing him to lift her up into an embrace and making Lightning squirm awkwardly.

"Snow. Let go of me."

Snow grinned lopsidingly and released his arms around her.

"I'm gonna go call Vanille!" Serah squealed, running into her bedroom.

"I'm glad that went ok," Snow said after a moment of silence.

"I didn't think you were gonna ask now," Lightning said, walking over to Hope.

"I couldn't wait any longer," Snow claimed, approaching them again. "I love her too much." Lightning couldn't help but smirk a little bit.

"That's very sweet of you," she said in a sarcastic tone, watching Hope go off to his room.

"I mean it, Light," the blonde whispered, staring into her eyes in all seriousness.

"I know." Lightning said, as she made her way over to the TV.

* * *

Hope went down on his knees on his carpet and looked out the window, watching the sunset glow on his hands when he lifted them up in front of his face, and all the city lights begin to switch on.

"Hi mommy," Hope whispered. "If you still remember me. I hope you're watching me, cause… I have a new mom now, if that's ok with you. A- and I think she'll be a good one. Maybe not as amazing as you but…" Hope sniffled slightly; his eyes were burning.

"I'll see you again. I know I will."

Hope lifted his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss out the window into the clouds, finally letting a chocked sob and watching the blood red sky turn blue in front of him.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto his waist, the other one onto his mouth to prevent his screams from being heard. The man yelled at Hope to be quiet.

How did he even get here in the first place?

Hope recognized his voice.

_"We better get out of here before anyone sees us."_

It was the man who tried to shoot him months ago. Hope knew he wouldn't make it if he didn't struggle.

The teenager flung his body around to try escape the man's grasp, screaming through his fingers to try to get someone to hear, but no one came.

He felt a sharp, needle – like object go into his neck, and black began to cloud around his eyes. His knees dropped to the floor and he felt the hand being released from his mouth.

"LIIIIIIGGGHHHTNIIIIIIIINNNGGG!" He screamed with all the strength left in him; his head began to pound, and he began to see the black finish clouding around his eyes, before everything went peaceful.

* * *

"Serah, why do we have cable? It's just 10 dollars more for the better version."

"Lightning, I am saving up for my wedding, okay?"

Lightning rolled her eyes and flicked through the channels rapidly.

"But you bought cable _before_ you got proposed to. Seriously. There is nothing on that-"

"LIIIIIIGGGHHHTNIIIIIIIINNNGGG!" Light shot up from the couch, waiting for something else. Serah looked at her in fear, and Snow ran from the kitchen.

Suddenly, a sound of a window shattering made them all storm and sprint over to Hope's room. Lightning didn't even think before she was jumping out the window, climbing down a couple of floors and sprinting to a motorcycle that's had Hope's body on it. Her heart stopped when she noticed him lifeless, wobbling around on the vehicle. Snow followed close behind her, leaving Serah in Hope's room with her hands on her mouth. She quickly ran down the stairs and made her way towards the front door to chase them.

* * *

"Hope, c'mon, please be okay. C'mon baby, don't do this do me," Lightning whispered frantically to try to distract her from losing her footing. Snow followed close behind, panting wildly to keep up with her. She grabbed the knife in her pocket that she kept with her, waiting for the right moment to throw it at the motorcycle.

She threw it and prayed as it flew in the air. It hit the wheel and caused the motorcycle to flip over, making the driver fly into a tree drunk, knocking him out, and Hope skidding on the empty road. Lightning and Snow sprinted over to Hope.

"Hope. Please, wake up." Light shook him slightly, her heart beating loudly. He looked unhurt, except for the scratches on his face from the motorcycle crash and some sort of bruise on his neck.

Hope's eyes fluttered open; he looked at Lightning and smiled slightly, causing his mother sniffle slightly, then strengthen herself to pick Hope up.

"Are you all right?" Hope nodded, still looking up somewhere in the sky. _Where did that man come from? _Lightning waited for him to say something, but seconds later he gasped and held onto her for dear life.

"Wha – Aah!" Lightning dropped Hope, causing him to yelp and bring his knees up to his chin. Snow ran over to him and lifted him off the ground.

Lightning felt an odd burning near her collar bone, then everything turned dark.

* * *

"We have to get out of here," Snow said abruptly, causing the silver haired teen in his arms to stare up at him, mortified.

"But what about Lightning-"

"We don't have time," Snow cried, seeing Lightning put her hand over her ears and drop her knees, crying out in pain. He felt so guilty as he watched the weakened teen below him start to cry. He had to get them to safety, and that's all that mattered. If they didn't get out in time, Hope and Snow would be branded again. And by now Serah was on her way over.

Should he wait for her?

No. Not this time.

Snow ignored the sound of Hope's cries and pleas and sprinted through the forest, just enough to get them clear of any fal'cie. He set Hope down and suddenly saw something skid past them. He heard the boy next to him cry out and put his hand to his arm.

"HOPE!" He screamed, running over to him before feeling something pierce his leg. He cursed and fumbled down the forest to chase Hope, who was now running, stumbling often. They both finally dropped about a ½ mile later.

"You okay, buddy?" Snow said, looking at Hope fearfully. His eyes were drooping, and his left arm was completely red. He nodded silently, sniffling again and leaning his back to one of the trees. Snow pulled off his scarf and his jacket, wrapping the scarf quickly around Hope's arm and the jacket around his leg.

"Snow," Hope finally whispered, killing the silent, cold air.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

"I know kid, I know…" Snow pulled Hope in with one his arms and felt his head lean in his shoulder. The blonde didn't know if he was shaking out of temperature or out of fear. Or maybe even both.

"Everything's gonna be al-" Snow flung to the side from the impact, and everything turned white.

* * *

Hope dashed his head over to look at Snow after hearing a long bang. A bullet had flung through his head. His eyes were closed and blood began to spew out of his head, dripping all over his shoulder. Snow was dead. Hope shrieked and shook the bloody man's shoulders.

"SNOW. NO!"

"Don't move."

Hope let out a cry of fear as he heard a gun click in the ready, and he saw a shadow behind one of the trees.

Hope flung up and began to sprint through the forest, dodging the bullets like he never had done before, and running faster than even a car. He heard the yelling stop from behind him, and just the sound of his feet squishing in the grass.

"I WILL FIND YOU!" The crazed behind him screamed, and he saw one last bullet fly beside him.

_I have to get to Lightning. I have to get to Lightning. I have to get to Lightning. I have to get to you, mom._

* * *

_There was nothing left to live for. Yet, tiny sparks of hope gleam in this big existence, like pearls in the murk. He could grow wings and fly away from this dim location, though he knew it wouldn't be possible. Flashes of horrifying images exploded all around him. First a monster, laughing. A beautiful ocean. She's trying to grab someone's hand, and an electrifying golden light…_

Lightning eyes opened painfully as she took in her surroundings.

"Lightning! You're all right! … Are you?"

"I'm fine, Serah, I promise." She continued to look around for a hint of silver but found nothing.

"Wh-where's Hope? And Snow? Where are they?"

"I – I don't know, I thought you would know. Maybe they went to get help." Lightning nodded impatiently, then felt a burning sensation near her heart.

She pulled her shirt down slightly and sighed at the sight of a brand. Serah gasped, looking up and down from the brand rapidly.

"Oh my god, Lightning, I'm so sorry." Lightning wiped away the tear that fell from Serah's eye.

She was a l'cie. Was Hope a l'cie? If Hope was a l'cie, then she would probably kill herself. And when would those two be back?

The sound of gasps came closer to them. Lightning thought it was Serah, until she heard her say something.

"Hope! Oh my god, what happened?"

The sight in front of Lightning made her want to cry. Her son stood in front of her, his arm bloody, his body letting out hysterical sounds.

"Hope," Serah said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"We can't help you if you don't tell us what's going on." Lightning cried walking towards Hope, who fell to his knees. It looked like he couldn't speak.

"He's having a panic attack," Serah said, kneeling down to Hope. Lightning sprinted over, nudging Serah out the way and wrapping her arms around him. She rubbed his back and shushed him, doing whatever it took to stops his shrieks and sobs.

By now Hope had began to calm down a little, his sobs turn into muffled cries.

"Hope…" Serah said reluctantly, "Where's Snow?"

Lightning knew that wasn't a good question. Hope let out another full on sob and began to weep again.

"Hope, honey! Please, where is he?" Serah asked, suddenly starting to get nervous.

"He-he-he-hic-bullet-andhe-hic-head-hic-mom…" Hope held Lightning tighter.

"Hope. Hope, look at me. I can't help you if you don't toughen up and say what happened," Lightning whispered into his ear. Hope held his breath to hold back sobs. He breathed in through his nose, wheezing slightly with it, and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"See. You're okay. Can you tell us what happened?" Serah exclaimed. Where was her fiancé? Hope nodded, letting out one last sob.

"When Lightning passed out, Snow grabbed me and… we started running for a long time, and then… something hit my arm… and something hit Snow in the leg… we kept running and… sniff…" Hope started tearing up again. "And then Snow got shot in the head-" Serah let out an unexpected sob, tears immediately beginning to slip down her face. Hope started crying again. "And this man started chasing me and I was running and there was nowhere to go but he kept chasing me and then he shot more bullets and he said he'll find me – hic." Lightning couldn't help but start to cry, but no one could hear Hope or Lightning's over Serah's screams of pain.

"They're after us again," Hope whispered.

* * *

**I know, I'm kind of sick. I killed Snow. I actually really like Snow, I just need him to die in this story. Me and my borhter discussed this for like 10 minutes, and he just said Snow should go on vacation to France and enter in a coma so he's not dead, you just can't talk to him. lol. Thank you SO much for reading! **

**Inside joke to my friends: "This is a good blend."**

**Hmmm... who will be my 70th review? I don't know... *strokes invisible beard* Bye guys ;)**


	17. My Mistake

**I haven't been sleeping, so I've just been using makeup over my dark circles and doing everything I can to stay peppy, but finally like 3 or 4 days ago I broke and had a full out panic attack. I don't wanna get into it, but embarrassing… Anyway. **

**Please don't kill me. PLEASE don't kill me! I am SO sorry! It's been an eternity and I feel so horrible! Like, I'm gonna cry in a second horrible. I had to go the hospital to get a checkup on my pneumonia (which is definitely better, yay!) And I went on vacation. Twice. I LOVE vacations! XD**

**Major excuse, too. **

**I found a High School Musical Fanfiction section XD **

**I was there a while. Found a new fanfiction, called Whisper for Help. READ. IT. PLEASE. That freakin section is ADDICTING, my fav stories are in my favorites. You don't even have to like High School Musical to read these, just sayin. I beg of you, read HSM fanfics. lol**

**But the main reason I'm gone though is because I've become obsessed with the movie Charlie ST. Cloud (PLEASE look up the trailer it's so amazing! And I have never seen such a brilliant and sad movie.) And also, I started watching Fullmetal Alchemist. :) **

**But here I am. I'll write an extra long chapter for you, okay? :) **

**But oh my gosh guys, you don't even know how much it means to me how many reviews, hits, favorites and alerts were given to me since I've posted the last chapter! *does the happy dance* **

**Thank you Aeronero, Guest, Guest, Guest, Lightarcana, Frost Metal 0- 1, Amalia Trevion, Victinis Victory, and Guest. XD (I wonder why they don't let you type in a name anymore. That's a reason you should make an account, I guess. Lol. **

**Anyway, I think I'll start writing now. HERE WE GO, MEMA chapter 16!**

* * *

_We were alone._

_We were lost._

_We were scared._

_I hate that feeling when somebody dies and you just sit there a moment, waiting for someone to react, someone to move…_

_Someone to breathe._

_I hate when you're the first one to let out a sob, and I hate when another person lets out the first sob that breaks your heart. _

_I hate it when somebody dies in the first place._

_Why does God decide to take someone away from us before we're ready to let them go? _

_Do I think it's fair? Of course not. _

* * *

"Serah… I'm so sorry…" Lightning whispered to Serah, wrapping her arms around her and stroking her fingers through her hair.

They had probably already has been there for at least an hour, and it felt as if the whole world had been silenced. Hope stood a couple of feet away, staring up into the sky, blinking rapidly to try to take away some of the tears that continued to well up in his sea green orbs.

"Lightning…" Hope whispered, looking over at the two sisters.

"Hope, just give Serah a minute," she said painfully, as Serah continued to silently sob, clutching her wedding ring in the palm of her hand, the diamond piercing her skin and letting blood seep out slightly.

* * *

"Hope, I need to tell you something that you may not like." Lightning whispered, pulling her shirt collar down slightly, revealing a brand. Hope's eyes widened; he stepped back slightly and gasped, trying to stay as calm as he could.

"We should call Vanille, she - she could, could with-"

"I already tried, she's not answering. And if we do that, then we change the future. What if… what if we lose Vanille?"

Hope sighed, lightly slamming his back into a tree behind him.

Serah wiped the tears from her eyes. She needed to stay stong. For Hope and for Lightning.

"Claire…" Serah asked, causing Lightning's head to turn abruptly.

"What."

"Did you have a focus?" Light's expression changed. She looked back at Hope, who looked eager and scared to hear more.

"You were in my focus, Hope. I… I, remember there was water, so much water crashing on my face, and giant crashes of light… I think it was lightning, actually. It's really fuzzy…"

"You were in my focus too…" Hope said faintly, staring at the dirt under him.

"What do you think that means?"

"I think our focus may be-"

* * *

Hope gasped as he felt a hand swing around his waist and yank him backwards.

"HOPE!" Serah screamed. Lightning sprang up and sprinted towards her son.

"HOPE DON'T MOVE! HE HAS A KNIFE!" Serah screamed, backing away from the man taking him.

Lightning sprung to action and pushed the man out of Hope's grasp, slamming her elbow into his head and trying to rip the knife out of his hand.

"Nice try, sweetheart, but you're too late." He said mysteriously, before Lightning felt something plunge into her side.

He gasped for air and fell to her knees, crying out in pain.

"NO!" Hope screamed, running towards the man trying to rip the metal object out of his hands.

Lightning stared at Hope trying to protect her and smiled slightly. She saw everything begin to become fuzzy, and she let her eyes close and heard the sound of her crashing to the ground.

Hope stared at Lightning for what felt like hours, ignoring the man's taunts at him. His eyes welled up with tears, not knowing if she was dead or not.

"You… BASTARD!" He screamed, finding more strength than he thought he could muster. The man grabbed Hope's neck and pinned him against the tree. The silverette struggled to breathe, gasping unchanging breaths.

"This is your warning," the man whispered to Hope, laughing silently at his struggles for oxygen and his green orbs dashing to Lightning. He pulled Hope's head forward and slammed it back into the tree trunk, causing blood to ooze out, dying his silver hair red on the back of his head.

Hope saw read and black splotches clouding on the outside of his eyes, and he felt his heart beat faster, his head only thinking about Lightning; he heard his heartbeat echoing in his ears and into his head, before the black started to grow in his pupils, and everything slowly and eventually went black.

_I hate the black._

* * *

Serah screamed as saw her sister lying on the ground, breathing heavily from the wound on her side, and Hope knocked out on the ground, leaning on the tree behind him, and breathing evenly.

"Oh my god," she whispered, running over to Lightning and ripping open the side of her shirt more, looking at the wound. He felt relief when she realized the wound wasn't big enough to be fatal. But she knew she had to stop the bleeding.

"Serah…" Serah gasped and looked into Lightning's eyes, and saw them flutter open.

"Claire! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah… I can. I think I can walk enough to get back to the apartment. We'll hide in the basement and wait for everyone… wait! Where's Hope?"

"He got hit in the head-"

"What?"

"Shhh, Lightning, I think he'll be ok, he's fine. We just need to get out of here. We can't be alone out here for much loner before someone else comes.

Lightning nodded, standing up, but shaking slightly and stumbling back down.

"Lightning, I'll carry you-"

"But who's gonna carry Hope?"

"We can come back for him."

"No."

"Ok…" Serah watched sadly as she saw Lightning's pained expression as she clenched her still bleeding side and walked over towards the sidewalk a couple of yards away.

"I'll get Hope," Serah whispered, pulling the unconscious teenager onto her back as they made there way slowly but surely back to apartment.

* * *

Everything was quiet.

A bit too quiet, to be honest.

Hope's eyelashes softly opened, and he saw icy blue soft eyes staring down at him.

"…Lightning?"

"No, it's Serah. Honey, can you hear me?"

Hope nodded and sat up slowly, examining the atmosphere around him.

"We're in the basement of the apartment complex. We're really only supposed to be here in case there's a tornado or a burglar in the building and we're on lockdown, so nobody'll be here." Hope nodded again, and something suddenly struck him.

"Lightning."

"She's ok, it was… more of a slice then a stab, so I was able to help her out. We still don't know where Vanille is… but I keep calling her every then minutes. Hope continued to nod after every couple of words, and slowly stood up, shaking the fogginess out of his eyes and head and stumbled over to bathroom.

* * *

Lightning winced when she heard Hope throwing up. She turned over on the couch there and looked at Serah, who was just watching her.

"Is he ok?" she said hoarsely. Serah nodded.

"I think he's just a little freaked out," Serah encouraged, then out a blanket on Lightning.

"You should sleep, okay? The we'll head out tomorrow and make our way somewhere… I don't know where… but people are after us… so as long as you feel ok we'll go.

Lightning mumbled a yes and closed her eyes, letting her drowsiness takes over without temptation to stay awake.

* * *

Hope gagged once more and then leaned back on the one of the bathroom walls, wiping more tears from his eyes. He didn't know why he felt so upset. Lightning was ok. He was ok. They were safe at the moment. But for some reason the tears wouldn't go away. He felt like tere was something inside him, begging for release, begging to get out, but he didn't know what exactly wanted out.

Maybe he needed the pain to get out. It was so deep in his blood, so hard to find, and so hard to release.

He didn't want to talk about, it, he just wished everything was back to the way it was, but better. He wanted to see Lighting everyday, and watch her be nicer to people, and see his mom everyday before he went to school, and watched his dead our his eyes over old maps and messages for his work.

Hope pulled the dagger out his back pocket and open it, examine the sharpened blade that glowed in front of him.

Her wanted to live in the house that he lived in with all his things, and he wanted to see his friends again, before they all said he was too weird to be around and he was alone again. He wanted the pain to away.

Hope held the razor to his wrist and sliced. He felt a sharp pain that made him cry out a sob.

"Hope, are you okay?" He heard Serah voice.

"Yes." He yelped out, and suddenly felt the pain go away, and he felt himself become free.

He wanted to be as free as he felt right now. No danger, so cares, no worried. He wanted happiness. And most of all, he wanted love. He wanted everything positive. It was a bit selfish, but it would be worth it in the end, because he would share it with others.

* * *

Hope snapped back into reality for a second, sharply in taking breathe as he felt pain return as he saw the deep cut on his thin wrist.

No, no, no.

He couldn't believe what he just did. Hope ripped the bandana out of his back pocket and wrapped toilet paper around his wrist, watching it turn red. Shaking, he put the scarf on and tied it as tight as we could, making him whimper in pain, but he felt satisfied as he felt it tense up there, and felt the blood clot.

_I will never do that again._

* * *

Hope meekly stepped out of the bathroom double checking the dagger for extra blood and stuck it in his back pocket.

"Hope, are you okay?" Serah cried, coming up to him.  
Hope nodded, putting his wrist behind his back just in case, and made his way over to Lightning, sitting next to her sleeping figure on the couch. He tried to push back the stress in his head and realized something.

It was only the beginning.

* * *

**Uh… yeah. Not completely happy with the chapter :) Wasn't as long as I thought it would be, but I guess I'll see you guys soon. I may be writing another fanfiction along with this one, too. But I don't know yet! As you can see, I changed the rating to M, just cause Hope cuts himself, and language and stuff. It's really a T+ but they don't have that lol. **

**But I hoped you like dhte chapter and I Hope to see you soon! **


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